On October 3, 1967, the X-15A-2 set a world airspeed record of Mach 6.72. The aircraft is now at the National Museum USAF.

Research pilot Neil Armstrong stands with an X-15 rocketplane at NASA's Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., in 1960. The X-15 rocket plane flew 199 times between 1959 and 1968. The X-15 ...

While the Blackbird SR-71 was the fastest manned airplane ever made, the fastest manned aircraft is the North American X-15, a rocket plane that flew for the first time on June 8, 1959, launched from ...

Click to open image viewer. CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. North American X-15, rocket powered experimental aircraft; black titanium skin with wedge shaped horizontal stablizer; ...

Click to open image viewer. [NASM2006-12828] 70mm glass-mounted slides from the collection North American X-15 Glass-Mounted Color Transparencies (NASA), NASM.2006.0050. Photo by Mark Avino. CC0 Usage ...

On Nov. 9 1962, an engine failure forced Jack McKay, a NASA research pilot, to make an emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada, in the second X-15. Its landing gear collapsed and the X-15 flipped over ...