European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse Our manned space Craft nears its crucial test " t a blend of air plane and rocket ship the xi5 is expected to carry its Pilot 100 Miles or More above the Earth s surface Rex a is caiy/3/en aloft Noea. Wing of Liz Hoshek ship Ano launched High in air spec ally is Pilot &z0mof oth Hatsamo Jues Nous a Ake Asifo when x if a Mia re in plane 100 Milfs at Ris e agnews features by most Aho this Islik Friy a High la moing Point Edwards California we n Dov e k. Utah i. Y. N f. Vada a. 5av1d 1. Ltd Wen a Swaw item within the net few weeks North american aviation will be Girt Phek. Ing out under Power America s first space ships. / a Dart shaped x15. Successfully past Glide tests now is being fitted with a rocket engine. More tests with Low Power will follow. Then a larger engine will be mounted in the sufi Elk pitch Black successive test will push the research ship to higher or faster , if All goes according to plan a test Pilot will aim the x15 at the stars and rocket up 100 Miles or More above the Earth in Man s first Brief penetration of space. The climactic flight May be made in any one of three x15s North american is pre paring for the National aeronautics and Spaer administration. Two of them have passed Early tests. The xl5 looks like a fat streamlined Cigar it s 50 feet Long with Short stubby wings and a drooping Tail. Rudder surfaces extend both above and below the thick Tail end of the fuselage. The lower rudder is jettisoned before skid landings. A blend of aircraft and rocket ship x15 has both conventional air plane controls for flight within the atmosphere and Small rockets mounted in nose and wingtips for control in space where there is no air and Ordinary control surfaces would Flap skin is painted with a Jet Black silicone mixture capable of withstanding temperatures of More than 1,000 degree for Short periods of time. The plane is Likely to encounter temperatures approach ing this Range As it plummets Back into the motors. Has designed two propulsion systems. The first now being in stalled in one of the ships yields 12,000pounds of thrust and uses water alcohol and liquid oxygen for fuel. The second Power Plant uses liquid oxygen and an hydrous ammonia to generate 50,000pounds of thrust Only 10,000 pounds less than the kick in the second stage of an Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile. The continuous controlled explosion generated by the big engine will push the x15 to its maximum design Speed of 3,600mph and its maximum design Altitude of 100 Miles. The plane cannot take off from the ground. It is carried aloft under the Wing of a b52 Mother ship and launched 38,000 feet. The Mother ship is fitted with the complicated fueling apparatus the rocket engines require. An operator in the b52 tops off the alb s fuel tanks with highly unstable boiling liquid oxygen just before the drop off. A 485-mile-Long Fly Way has been set up for observation of the research plane s powered flights. Radar and telemetry equipment have been installed along the Range extending from Wendover air Force base near Salt Lake City to Edwards air Force base in California. Major1 checkpoints Aro at Ely and beatly Nev. F
