Joseph Albert Walker
Joseph Albert Walker was an American experimental physicist, World War II pilot, NASA test pilot, and X-15 astronaut. He is one of the clearest examples of a person whose spaceflight record came through a rocket aircraft rather than an orbital spacecraft.
- Born
- February 20, 1921
- Died
- June 8, 1966
- Birthplace
- Washington, Pennsylvania,United States
Flights
2
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
22 minutes
Bio
Walker studied physics at Washington and Jefferson College and served as a pilot during World War II before joining NACA and then NASA's high-speed flight research program. He flew many research aircraft, but the X-15 made him central to the history of piloted hypersonic and high-altitude flight.
In 1963, Walker flew the X-15 above the Kármán line twice, becoming the first person to enter space twice by the 100-kilometer standard. These flights were brief suborbital missions, but they produced important data about control, heating, and piloted flight near the edge of space.
Walker died in 1966 when his F-104 chase plane collided with the XB-70 Valkyrie during a formation photo flight.