X-15 Diary: The Story of America's First Space Ship

Rating:
Summary: X-15 Diary not bad, but not complete
Review: A correction to a previous review: this appears to be a simple reprint of the 1961 title, and does not cover flights after 1961. The last flight described is Bob White's to 130,000+ ft. None of the truly astounding flights with the XLR-99 engine are covered. I guess you have to go to Milton Thompson's book for that.

Still a good read though. It's interesting to compare the X-15 to SpaceShipOne.

Rating:
Summary: x-15 diary by richard tregaskis- superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: if you've always wanted the full x-15 rocketship/plane story, then here it is. i have the 1961 first edition but was ticled pink when i learned that amazon.com has a new edition. this is a must for x-15/space/rocket buffs like me! tells story of how north american aviation, now rockwell international, paved the way for project mercury,gemini and apollo; not to mention project dyna-soar. i knew fomer apollo 15 astronaut jim irwin and he told me of how very important the x-15 was in his project, the sr-71 blackbird and project dyna-soar! also paved the way for space shuttle . the x-15 records and data are still used today! she is still the fastest aircraft/plane of all time, along with several altitude records. she flew mach 6.7/4520 mph!!!!!!!!! over twice the speed of a rifle bullet. and flew over 452,ooo high, on the fringes of outer space. i cant wait to order my copy. a must have. i feel that the x-15 is what helped neil armstrong qualify a a top contender for apollo 11. in order to qualify for astronau status, the pilots at edwards air force base took x-15 above 16 miles high and gained astronaut status automatically. another friend , scott crossfield who flew x-15 first for north american aviation before goernment/naca/nasa stepped in; flew all first flights of x-15. project lasted from 1959-1968. a truely good work this book is indeed. this book will cover the later missions/flights which i dont have in my 1961 edition. must read! tony