North American Aviation’s X-15 rocket plane reached 4,520 mph and climbed to 354,200 feet during a program that ran from 1959 to 1968, producing flight data NASA credits as foundational to later U.S.

The North American X-15 did more than set records; it quietly redrew the map of what a piloted aircraft could survive at the edge of space. By pushing hypersonic flight to extremes that still stand ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Shaped much like a miniature NASA space shuttle, Stratolaunch's uncrewed, rocket-propelled Talon-A2 aircraft detached in midair ...