| View Larger Image | At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program | Paperbackby Milton O. Thompson (Author), Neil A Armstrong (Foreword)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $21.33 | | You Save: | $3.62 (15%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Smithsonian | | Page Count: | 375 Pages | | Publication Date: | February 17, 2003 | | Sales Rank: | 367,655th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Thompson’s adrenaline-fueled account of the X-15 program is the ultimate insider’s view: he flew as one of the twelve test pilots. These men truly had the right stuff, essentially piloting a seat strapped to a rocket 300,000 feet into the air—right to the edge of space. It’s all here, from late-night uncertainties in desert bars to the monumental technical challenges, to the record-breaking flights themselves. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 29 reviews)
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Magnificent understatement magnifies the achievement by Sea Bass (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)  4 Stars
April 29, 2009
Milt Thompson's understated narrative mirrors the paradoxical nature of pilots: they're risk lovers who love to survive. They blend a craving for the edges of existence with a dedication to skill, rehearsal and confidence in crisis. Thompson mixes an academic assessment of his charge, the X-15, with anecdotes that reveal the unruly and thrill loving side of Thompson and his colleagues.
The low key delivery only emphasizes the magnificence of the program-- controlled space flight and piloting into space with the same skills that only 60 years earlier helped the Wright brothers fly another pioneering craft.
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Great book, what took so long??? by J. B. Waggoner (Texas USA)  5 Stars
August 03, 2007
I got this the minute I saw it. This can compare, in a good way to "always another dawn" Scott Crossfield's book but, Milt is much more funny!!!
Lots of things about the program I never knew are in this book, not a dry rendering either.
If you are into the early days of spaceflight, here is your book!!
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Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program by Ronald P. Moats (Fern Creek, Kentucky United States) 4 Stars
May 07, 2007
Very interesting book. I learned a lot from the book, this program was going on while I was in the service and you never heard much about it. A good companion to Sled Pilot.
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Finally, A Real Book About Real Flying To The Edge of Space by givbatam3 (REHOVOT Israel) 5 Stars
March 04, 2007
The X-15 was the fastest airplane ever built. Milt Thompson has written an outstanding book about this aircraft and those who flew it. The career of the X-15 paralleled the beginnings of America's manned space program (by the way, it is interesting to note that just 20 years before
the X-15 was developed, the US Army was just beginning to introduce propeller-powered monoplanes into service as fighter planes and the DC-3 was entering service as cargo and passenger plane, and here, just one generation later, was the X-15 rocket plane planning to reach the edge of space at speeds of Mach 7!) Had it not been for the panic created by the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in October 1957, a modified follow-on
to the X-15 would have launched Milt Thompson or one of his pilot-colleagues in the program into orbit as the first Americans in space sometime in the 1960's, a few years after the Project Mercury "human-cannon-ball" actually did so.
Thompson describes the aircraft and the pilots that flew it, including their training. He also describes his pre-X-15 days showing the reader the qualities and background needed for a pilot to cope with the highest-performance aircraft of all time.
The best part of the book is that he actually describes FLYING this amazing aircaft. In this, Thompson's book outshines almost all the
autobiographies written by the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts, the only others to get further into space than the X-15 pilots. (Mike Collins' book "Carrying the Fire" is the notable exception to this) These astronauts don't really describe their experiences like Thompson does. The reason for this is that, although all loved flying, the astronauts had the status of "celebrities" so they apparently felt they had to write their books in a way to attract people who weren't interested in the aerospace world as such and so they barely mentioned the psychological and technical aspects of their experiences. Thompson, on the other hand, wrote this book for the layman who is indeed interested in the technical aspects of this world and so wrote, for me, what is a much more interesting book.
At the end of the book, he includes a log of every one of the 199
flights the X-15 made. In addition, he describes what each of his fellow
pilots did after leaving the program. Two went on to careers in NASA, including Neil Armstrong (whom Thompson claims "he lost track of after leaving the X-15 program) and Joe Engle who narrowly missed walking on the Moon as LM Pilot in Apollo 17, but who did manage to fly the Space Shuttle later on. Thus, we see that the X-15 pilots were supremely qualified for the most difficult challenges in aerospace missions.
After one reads this book, one is in awe of the intellegence, cool and
control of these men who took mankind into outer space.
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An excellent pilots view of the X-15 program by Thud Driver (Las Vegas) 5 Stars
April 03, 2006
Milt Thompson was actually a friend of the family and I workd at NASA Dryden FRC during the years 0f 1966 til September 1967 and was working for the guidance and display branch. I got to meet most of the pilots that flew the X-15 and thatr was really cool part about working there then.
Milt Thompson tells the story sort of like you were there talking to him and he tell of a lot of the problems and scary moments of flight in this craft. I think you will find it a book that tells a lot about the various flights and programs that were done using the 3 X-15's. There is quite a bit of humor about their antics as well and I think that the most dangerous parts were not the flights but the after flight parties that they went to after a flight. Truly an enjoyabel book and I've read it probably 5 or 6 times and I enjoy it as much as ever.I was fortunate to have Milt sign my copy and it turned out that he passed away not too long after that.
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