The X-15 was the last in a line of manned rocket-powered research airplanes built during the 1950s to explore ever-faster and higher flight regimes. Nineteen years before Space Shuttle, the X-15 showed it was possible to fly into, and out of, space. Launched from the wing of a modified B-52 bomber, the ship rocketed higher and faster than any manned aircraft of the time. 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. In the joint X-15 hypersonic research program that NASA conducted with the Air Force, the Navy, and North American Aviation the aircraft flew over a period of nearly 10 years and set unofficial speed and altitude records, in a program to investigate all aspects of piloted hypersonic flight. Information gained from the highly successful X-15 program contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo piloted spaceflight programs as well as the Space Shuttle program.
This popular science documentary offers insights into a physiology laboratory conducting intensive i...
Europe and the United States are working together on an unprecedented journey to learn more about th...
Two modern Red Arrows pilots take on the challenges faced by World War I pilots by performing photo ...
Track the evolution of Huntsville, Alabama, from the "Watercress Capital of the World" to "Rocket Ci...
A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the...
An exceptional documentary which presents, for the first time colorized archives, on Charles Lindber...
The iconic design of the Boeing 747 has endured for over 5 decades, but the end of production is loo...
This 2-DVD set focused on the development and combat history of the Grumman F4F Wildcat and was crea...
During the Vietnam War, the main threat to the strike packages was the V-750 (S-75) Dvina, the first...
A stray dog in Russia is taken off of the streets and must learn to accept others in order to find a...
Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his 1927 New York to Pa...
An exhilarating documentary film that celebrates the unsung hero of aviation - the local airport - b...
Explores the Shuttle Program through the eyes of some of the exceptional men and women who worked be...
Reg Sherren revisits the players and the places that were critical in the Gimli Glider incident of J...
From test flights to moon landings, thousands of people have dedicated their lives to the field of s...
Explores the extraordinary, transformative events Cocoa Beach residents found themselves engaged in ...
On 21 December 1988 a Pan Am 747 jet exploded over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie. On the 25th...
The De Havilland Comet was the world's first passenger jet airliner. But less than two years into se...
Panair do Brasil revives the story of the most important commercial aviation company in Brazil, betw...
An eccentric history buff lives in a cabin in the woods but spends most of his time flying his bipla...