X-15 Photo Scrapbook Tapa blanda - 2003

Información de la editorial

The North American X-15 was the last in a line of manned rocket-powered research aeroplanes built during the 1950s to explore ever-faster and higher flight regimes. This was an era before computers were commonplace, and the only way to investigate the unknown was to go there. The programme was begun in 1954 specifically to produce the first hypersonic (velocities greater than five times the speed of sound) manned aircraft. Forward-thinking researchers also decided to design the aeroplane to fly at the edge of space, long before the manned space programme had begun in earnest. An in-depth history of the X-15 programme is given in Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 by the same authors. This brand new book is a collection of illustrations that were assembled for Hypersonic but would not fit in the finished work. Since many of these are significant and most have never been published previously, it was decided to print this scrapbook as a companion volume to Hypersonic. With over 350 black and white and 50 colour photographs, this scrapbook provides an excellent visual look at an extremely exciting research programme.