The Only Plane Which Accidentally Flew Into Space

Flight 90 -a winged airplane actually made it to space and landed back on earth in one piece.
Although rockets had already outpaced airplanes in terms of height and speed of flight by the 1940s, aerospace experts were still considering the possibility of reaching space using winged vehicles.
In the United States, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, also known as NACA, NASA's precursor, the Air Force, and the Navy depended on the X-series of experimental rocket-powered aircraft to explore aviation's most remote frontiers.
It was part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft flown by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
In the 1960s, the X-15 established speed and altitude records, reaching the edge of space and returning with critical data utilized in aircraft and spacecraft design.
Following a mid-air drop from the B-52 mothership, the X-15 would fire its liquid-propellant rocket engine, achieving record-breaking speed and height.
The pilot chosen for the flight was Joseph Walker, a decorated and experienced United States Air Force pilot serving in World War II.
Walker left the Army Air Forces after WWII to work as an experimental physicist at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio.
Walker was one of the pilots chosen for the United States Air Force for their Man In Space Soonest (MISS) mission was never completed.
Walker became the first NASA pilot to fly the X-15 and the second X-15 pilot, after Scott Crossfield, the manufacturer's test pilot, in 1960.
Walker did not understand how powerful the X-15's rocket engines were on his first flight, and he was pressed back into the pilot's seat, screaming.
The flight followed a conventional X-15 aircraft scenario, beginning with a takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California attached beneath the wing of a modified B-52 bomber at 10:19:53 local time (17:19 UTC) and accompanied by a chase aircraft.
Walker ignited the XLR99 rocket engine of his X-15 No. 3 after being released from the carrier aircraft above Smith Ranch Lake, Nevada, at 18:20 UTC.
Later, the X-15 successfully landed at 18:31 UTC on a dry bed of Rogers Lake within the Edwards Air Force Base after 11 minutes and 25 seconds in free flight, despite the pilot's failure to reach a smoke signal put up near the targeted touchdown spot.
Walker flew the LLRV for the first time on October 30, 1964, attaining a height of roughly 10 feet and a total flying time of slightly under one minute.
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The 'WOW!' video 'In and Out and In' video is super annoying. Not needed. Other than that, despite the constantly repeated videos and pictures, a good presentation.