X-15 Flight 90
| Mission Insignia
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| Mission Statistics
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| Mission Name: | X-15 Flight 90
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| Call Sign: | X-15
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Number of
Crew Members: | 1
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| Launch: | July 19, 1963
18:20:05 UTC
NB-52B flying near
Smith Ranch Dry Lake, NV
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| Landing: | July 19, 1963
18:31:29.1 UTC
Rogers Dry Lake,
Edwards AFB, CA
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Duration:
B-52 drop to
X-15 wheel stop | 11 minutes 24.1 seconds
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Number of
Orbits: | Suborbital
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| Apogee: | 106.01 km
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Distance
Traveled: | 534 km
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Maximum
velocity: | 5,971 km/h
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| Peak acceleration: | 5 G (49 m/s²)
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| Mass: | Launch 15,195 kg
Burnout 6,577 kg
Landing 6,260 kg
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| Crew Picture
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| Joe Walker
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Crew
Mission Parameters
- Mass: 15,195 kg fueled; 6,577 kg burnout; 6,260 kg landed
- Maximum Altitude: 106.01 km
- Range: 534 km
- Burn Time: 84.6 seconds
- Mach: 5.50
- Launch Vehicle: NB-52B Bomber #008
Mission Highlights
Maximum Speed - 5,971 km/h. Maximum Altitude - 106,010 m. 80 cm diameter balloon towed on 30 m line to measure air density. First X-15 flight over 100 km. First flight launched over Smith Dry Lake, NV. Experiments: Towed balloon, horizon scanner, photometer, infrared and ultraviolet. Balloon instrumentation failed.
The mission was flown by X-15 #3, serial 56-6672 on its 21st flight.
Launched by: NB-52B #008, Pilots Fulton & Bement. Takeoff: 17:19 UTC Landing: 19:04 UTC
Chase pilots: Crews, Dana, Rogers, Daniel and Wood.
The X-15 engine burns about 85 seconds. Near the end of the burn, acceleration builds up to about 4 G (39 m/s²). Weightlessness lasts for 3 to 5 minutes. Re-entry heating warms the exterior of the X-15 to 650 °C. in places. During pull up after re-entry acceleration builds up to 5 G (49 m/s²) for 20 seconds. The entire flight is about 12 minutes from launch to landing.
Pilot Robert White commented on his high altitude X-15 flights, "My flights to 217,000 feet [66 km] and 314,750 feet [96 km] were very dramatic in revealing the earth's curvature ... at my highest altitude I could turn my head through a 180º arc and wow! - the earth is really round. At my peak altitude I was roughly over the Arizona/California border in the area of Las Vegas, and this was how I described it: looking to my left I felt I could spit into the Gulf of California. Looking to my right I felt I could toss a dime into San Francisco Bay."
Reference
- NASA reports (PDF format)
Last updated: 10-09-2005 21:57:26
