| X-15 Doubleheader
1)“The X-15 Rocket Plane, Flying the First Wings into Space” (Based on the Best-Seller Book)
With the Soviet Union’s launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. This presentation tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight.
This remarkable research aircraft held the world’s altitude record for 41 years, and still has no equal to match or better its speed of more than 4,500 mph. Beyond the X-15 are the stories of the 12 men who guided it into space, and all the people who kept the rocket plane flying for nearly a decade. This is the story that has never been told of the vehicle that was the true precursor to the Space Shuttle by being the first piloted and winged vehicle to exit Earth’s atmosphere, and make a precision piloted reentry to a landing on hard-packed dry desert lakebeds.
In her research, Ms. Evans conducted 80 interviews, including 9 of the 12 pilots, such as Neil Armstrong, Scott Crossfield, Joe Walker, and Robert White, with family representatives for the remaining pilots. Others she spoke with include managers, flight planners, and the technicians and engineers who made the X-15 ready to fly its next research mission at high altitude and high Mach, expanding the frontiers of flight research.
2)“My Adventures with the X-15 Rocket Plane” (Debut)
What does it take to write a book? Some authors will tell you it is easy, that the story just pours out from their brain to the page. Others will tell a much different story, especially when it comes to writing non-fiction aerospace history, such as the task I created for myself. However, it was a task I enjoyed from beginning to end. I consider it an adventure to have been able to write my book “The X-15 Rocket Plane, Flying the First Wings into Space.” It is an adventure that has spanned decades, and is still going on today.
In this presentation, I share my personal journey that started in kindergarten with the idea of someday becoming an author, then my father taking me on field trips to Edwards AFB, which gave me a first-hand look at the X-15, which, in turn, led to my fascination with this amazing, innovative, and consequential aircraft. It took decades before I put it all together to understand that this was the perfect subject for the book I wanted to write. From there it took 30 more years of interviews, research, and writing to get to the completed manuscript, yet even then my journey was just beginning.
Today I travel the world and speak about the X-15, and tell the stories about not only the rocket plane itself, but all the people who made it the highest and fastest, as well as the most successful, research aircraft to ever take to the skies. Come and share this adventure with me. |
