Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 (Specialty Press) (Specialty Press) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Tony R. Landis, Dennis R. Jenkins
Publisher: Specialty Pr Pub & Wholesalers
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $16.89
You Save: $10.06 (37%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 130907
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 276
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 9.2 x 0.4
ISBN: 1580071317
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9781580071314
ASIN: 1580071317
Publication Date: July 15, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
Rocket plane: The term now conjures images from vintage pulp sci-fi. But in a program that began years before Gagarin and Shepard launched the space race, NASA's X-15 research vehicle ambitiously arched towards the fringes of space, expanding the speed-and-altitude envelope of manned flight like none before it. In the course of a 199 flights over a decade, the X-15 became the first manned aircraft to rocket past Mach 4, 5 and 6; soared some 67 miles above the Earth (earning a handful of its dozen pilots their Astronaut wings, though ironically not Neil Armstrong, later first to set foot on the Moon); and crucially gathered the cornerstone data that enabled the Space Shuttle's return from space a couple decades later. Authors/historians/archivists Dennis Jenkins and Tony Landis have produced nothing short of a landmark history of the X-15's pioneering effort which, they argue, was the most productive flight test program ever)-- the first truly comprehensive chronicle of every phase of its pre-history, development, and often perilous journeys (USAF pilot Mike Adams was killed on one of the craft's final flights, while several others suffered injuries in mishaps). Fueled by an obvious passion for their subject, the authors skillfully boil a daunting body of history, technical data, and personalities down into an eminently accessible chronicle of technical achievement and human bravery. In doing so they've drawn on a wealth of documentary materials and interviews from pilots, NASA and USAF sources and key personnel from North American Aviation, the X-15's manufacturer. Pilots Scott Crossfield and Bill Dana (the first and last to fly the spaceplane, respectively) have also contributed written introductions. --Jerry McCulley
Product Description
Nineteen years before Space Shuttle, the small, black, rocket-powered, bullet-shaped X-15 showed it was possible to fly into - and out of - space. There had never been anything like the X-15; it had a million-horsepower engine and could fly twice as fast as a rifle bullet. The X-15 set records that stood for years.
Specialty Press' bestseller, Hypersonic, has been re-released in a new softbound format at a reduced price. This book is the most extensively researched history of the X-15 program yet produced. The book was written with the cooperation of surviving X-15 pilots as well as many other program principals and is based on six years of research in Air Force, NASA, and North American archives. It covers the tasks of converting and testing the B-52 carrier airplanes, building the first full-pressure suits to protect the pilot, building the first engineering mission simulators, acquiring the remote lakebed landing sites, and building the radar range. It also covers the flight program in detail, including the most authoritative flight log ever assembled; in many instances, information in this log was derived from the original flight data recordings.
Also covered are each of the experiments that were flown aboard the X-15 late in its career when it became the workhorse of the space program, carrying such things as startrackers destined for the Apollo program and missile detection systems that would later be sent into orbit on satellites.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
hypersonic the story of etc December 13, 2007
DENNIS R. JENKINS &TONY R. LANDIS are THE best AERO/SPACE historians.I have other titles by them.
Please provide list of ALL titles by them.
THANX VLC
The book thats as good as the machine! November 14, 2007
Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony Landis write wonderful books about amazing machines.. (Check out America's super bomber XB-70)
Their style of writing is pure technical eloquence. They can take a complex subject and make it compelling reading whilst not dumbing it down or glossing over it.
The story evolves at a terrific pace and is neatly framed in the events and context of the era they occurred in.
The quality of the images matches the quality of the text. This is a book you will come back to year after year!
Hypersonic! - finally, a definitive history of the X-15 February 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This research work was obviously a labor of love and reverence for the authors. They gave credit where it is due, from the pilot astronauts, research scientists, program managers, air force personnel, senior engineers, technicians, and even a handful of glad-handing politicians.
For the first time, the reader wil learn details of the B-52 mothership personnel.
The photo-documentation is vast; I find it hard to believe that a companion volume ("Scrapbook") was needed for photos and illustrations beyond Hypersonic!'s coverage.
For modelers, the AFFTC blueprint on page 179 is definitive data on the X-15 fuselage. Info in the text will enable accurate reproduction of wing and tailplane structures.
Hypersonic! will remain the standard reference volume on the X-15 for decades to come.
X-15 Review January 10, 2007
This book is an exceptional addition to anyones library on aviation. If you are a X-15 freak, it is an absolute must to have.
Very good April 18, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not to take from old Chuck's efforts, but I've always thought the X-15 was the more interesting program. It's amazing the level of accomplishments they made, yet the X-15 is far from being as well known to the public as some other programs in aviation. If you like the X-15, this is definitely the book. It's not the kind of book you just fly through and look at the photos, then throw on a shelf... It is definitely worth your while to take the time and really read through the details of how the aircraft worked, what the Pilots went through, and how the milestones were achieved technically. The flight log in the back is amazing in it's detail, evening listing the chase aircraft and chase Pilots involved in each mission. I purchased it along with the X-15 Scrapbook, and they work well together.
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