Re: Seven myths about the Challenger disaster


"Will Marchant" <kc6rol@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:wvPCf.7100$rH5.3312@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker (I know, an
> unimpeachable source! 8) says he was a military test pilot.
> http://www.astronautix.com/astros/waloseph.htm says he got USAF and FAI
> wings for his flight. That makes me think he was still associated with
> the Air Force.
>

Joe Walker flew P-38s during WWII. He left the USAAF at the end of the war
and was hired by NACA in March 1945. NACA begat NASA and Walker was named
chief NASA pilot for the X-15 project in 1959. If he had been in the USAF
while flying the X-15 he would have received USAF astronaut wings for his
first flight above 50 miles, which occurred on January 17, 1963. He reached
an altitude of 271,700 feet on that flight, above the USAF's standard of 50
miles but less than the 100 kilometers used by the FAI. None of the
civilian X-15 pilots received astronaut wings for their flights at the time
because there were no astronaut wings for civilians. That was rectified
last August, see the link below:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/X-15_wings.html


.

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