NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690m

On 17 January 1962
NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690m.

The X-15 was to explore the problems of ballistic flight, winged reentry, and gliding recovery from space. It was a stepping stone to later developments - either an X-15 launched atop Navaho G-26 boosters, an X-15 scramjet version, or the X-20 - that would lead to manned orbital spaceflight. This stepping-stone approach was abandoned and the crash programs of Mercury and Apollo initiated instead, using ballistic capsules for crew recovery. Once these projects were over America returned to its original course and developed the winged space shuttle as its manned spacecraft.

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