Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15: Dennis R. Jenkins, Tony Landis, Scott Crossfield, William H. Dana: 9781580070683: Amazon.com: Books

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Dennis R. Jenkins

Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 Hardcover – January 1, 2003

by Dennis R. Jenkins (Author), Tony Landis (Author), Scott Crossfield (Author),

4.8 64 ratings

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Nineteen years before Space Shuttle, the small, black, rocket-powered, bullet-shaped X-15 showed it was possible to fly into - and out of - space. At the dawn of the 21st Century there seem to be a great interest in hypersonic flight. For the most part this is related to a new generation of missiles - air-to-air and air-to-surface - that are being proposed as the next logical increment in weapons, although the designers of the forever-in-development replacement for the Space Shuttle also have a vested interest in hypersonic research. This book is a tribute to the program, the airplanes, and the people who designed, maintained and flew the most successful of the X-planes. There had never been anything like the X-15; it had a million-horsepower engine and could fly twice as fast as a rifle bullet. Over the course of ten years and 199 flights, pilots from the Air Force, Navy, and NASA would spend 85 minutes at hypersonic velocities flying to the edge of space.

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Print length

276 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Specialty Pr Pub & Wholesalers
Publication date

January 1, 2003
Dimensions

10.5 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches
ISBN-10

158007068X
ISBN-13

978-1580070683
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Chris Petty
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Hardcover
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rocket plane: The term now conjures images from vintage pulp sci-fi. But in a program that began years before Gagarin and Shepard launched the space race, NASA's X-15 research vehicle ambitiously arched towards the fringes of space, expanding the speed-and-altitude envelope of manned flight like none before it. In the course of a 199 flights over a decade, the X-15 became the first manned aircraft to rocket past Mach 4, 5 and 6; soared some 67 miles above the Earth (earning a handful of its dozen pilots their Astronaut wings, though ironically not Neil Armstrong, later first to set foot on the Moon); and crucially gathered the cornerstone data that enabled the Space Shuttle's return from space a couple decades later. Authors/historians/archivists Dennis Jenkins and Tony Landis have produced nothing short of a landmark history of the X-15's pioneering effort which, they argue, was the most productive flight test program ever)-- the first truly comprehensive chronicle of every phase of its pre-history, development, and often perilous journeys (USAF pilot Mike Adams was killed on one of the craft's final flights, while several others suffered injuries in mishaps). Fueled by an obvious passion for their subject, the authors skillfully boil a daunting body of history, technical data, and personalities down into an eminently accessible chronicle of technical achievement and human bravery. In doing so they've drawn on a wealth of documentary materials and interviews from pilots, NASA and USAF sources and key personnel from North American Aviation, the X-15's manufacturer. Pilots Scott Crossfield and Bill Dana (the first and last to fly the spaceplane, respectively) have also contributed written introductions. --Jerry McCulley

Review

"... book is an absolute must. Save your pennies or ruin your credit card. Whatever it takes, it's worth it." -- Internet Modeler

"This book is simply the definitive work on one of North American Aviation's greatest achievements, the hypersonic X-15..." -- Wings (June 2003, Vol. 33, No. 3)

"This is hands down the absolute best reference on the X-15 program, bar none ... $39.95 is an unbelievable bargain." -- Internet Modeler

"To call Hypersonic a "book" is to do it injustice; it's really an encyclopedia, and a comprehensive one ..." -- Air & Space Smithsonian (July 2003)

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Specialty Pr Pub & Wholesalers; First Edition, First Printing (January 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 158007068X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1580070683
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.5 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,925,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,074 in Aviation History (Books)

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4.8 64 ratings

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Recommended reading for those interested in America's early ventures into space

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014

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I was just starting grade school when the X-15 was making its final flights, and the books that came out soon after didn't even cover a fraction of the information that Mr. Jenkins compiles in this fantastic read. The spirit of his writing does capture the spirit of the nation at that time, when Americans felt they could do anything.

Actually, one book did admirably cover the engineering points and human character of the X-15 program, and that was "90 Seconds to Space - the Story of the X-15" by Jules Bergman. It was printed many, many years ago (first printing in 1960), and in the following years I couldn't find any other books that met that standard of engineering and journalistic coverage. Jules Bergman was ABC's science editor for 25 years, and as a kid growing up during the Gemini and Apollo programs, I couldn't wait to hear his thorough and honest reporting on the subject. He helped make our space program one of the best liked federal programs in the world, and that's saying a lot.

"Hypersonic" by Dennis Jenkins picks up all of the remaining and vital pieces of X-15 program information, and the author crafts it all together into one fine read. He does a splendid job of explaining the strong-willed characters who had the genius and determination to even suggest such a program, the engineering challenges the entire team of engineers, pilots and support personnel faced, and their almost unbelievably continuous series of successes and triumphs.

Yes, this is recommended reading!

3 people found this helpful

As good as it gets

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2011

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Short of doing your own primary research, I don't see how you could find more complete information on the X-15 project than this book. The bonus is, the book is well written, clearly organized in a logical fashion, and has all the indicators of a labor of love on the part of the authors.

I find myself constantly re-reading sections; the audacity (and talent!) of the people involved is breathtaking; the authors capture that. If, for example, you're fascinated with the development of the SR-71, and reading about the ingenuity exhibited by those folks in problem solving, this is a book for you.

Never reckless, but never timid, these folks pushed through challenges that would scare the current NASA mob witless. In a weird way, the Soviet challenge may have set back manned space flight decades; we junked far more promising projects to win a race we were never going to loose anyway - the logical follow-ons to the X-15 were ignored in favor of quick-fix solutions. But no whining here! The X-15 stands on it's own merits as a thunderous success. Read this book!

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2006

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Not to take from old Chuck's efforts, but I've always thought the X-15 was the more interesting program. It's amazing the level of accomplishments they made, yet the X-15 is far from being as well known to the public as some other programs in aviation. If you like the X-15, this is definitely the book. It's not the kind of book you just fly through and look at the photos, then throw on a shelf... It is definitely worth your while to take the time and really read through the details of how the aircraft worked, what the Pilots went through, and how the milestones were achieved technically. The flight log in the back is amazing in it's detail, evening listing the chase aircraft and chase Pilots involved in each mission. I purchased it along with the X-15 Scrapbook, and they work well together.

3 people found this helpful

Flying Photographer

In-depth history of the X-15

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2012

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This must be one of the most in-depth books I have ever read about any airplane. Very well researched and documented, you will find a lot of information about almost every imaginable aspect of the aircraft. The numerous pictures (with their respective captions) are very descriptive and illustrative, in particular the excellent color ones.
Well, if this is all so great, why did I rate it 'only' 4-stars? Most readers who take the time to write a review either do it because they really liked that particular book (in which case 5-star ratings are the norm), or they found something particular they disliked (in which case 3-star or less ratings are the norm). Personally, 5-stars should be reserved to books in which I can only find very little or nothing to crtitize, which unfortunately is not the case with Hypersonic.
First comes the format: This book should have been printed in a different format (page size). As it is, there is so much information 'cramped' into one page, that it becomes almost a pain to really read through all of it. Additionally, the font size is so small (in order to pack the pages full), that you better have good eyesight and lots of light - not an ideal read before sleeping! The number of pages in this book does not reflect the content, it should be rather 500+ pages with 'normal' content per page.
Then, I found it very anoying for such an otherwise so well done book to find that many typing and editing errors, this is really not a good editing job.
Finally, I think the book deserved more 'cockpit' piloting stories that tell you what it felt to be mounted on top of such a powerfull rocket engine and for a few minutes be an astronaut, maybe even some more amusing annecdotes that must have happened throughout the 10+ years of flying. Even such an interesting subject as the X-15 can become a rather dry and technical read, and unfortunately this does happen in this book.

Overall, this is an authoritative history of the X-15 program, focused on the enginerring and technical challenges that needed to be overcomed before putiing a man on a rocket plane and fly at Mach 6.7 and 350.000 feet - recommended.

3 people found this helpful

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Mark

A fantastic book for aeronautics freaks (great pics, too)

Reviewed in Germany on June 18, 2020

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Apart from the oldish layout (the book is nearly 20 years old), the content is fantastic. The text is really detailed, and well researched. Sometimes really technical (too technical for a humanities person such as myself), but the pictures alone are worth the reasonable price. I felt like being 10 years old again, exploring aeroplanes. And there is not better Aeroplane to do this than the X-15. Great book, you won't regret it if you love aeroplanes and the technical side of them.

Pietro Gazzera

Molto bello!

Reviewed in Italy on February 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

Ottima pubblicazione sulla storia (essenzialmente) dell'X-15. Ottima documentazione fotografica. Estremamente interessante per l'appassionato. Un must-have. Tanti gli inediti. Vale la spesa.

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F. B. Mills

A Must-Have Book on the X-15

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2017

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I'd say this is a book for aviation geeks, for its prose is not that of a Tom Wolfe whose The Right Stuff was a masterpiece upon the humanity of how we got to the moon, and back. Those mid 20th century decades in aviation were the most febrile of times for aeroplane design, when new and exciting shapes seemed to materialise almost on a weekly basis. It appeared to end when the X-15 was retired.
Hypersonic details the genesis and through to the end of the X-15 - the precursor and adjunct to the moon landings programme - and is beautifully laid out and printed. Dense, and closely spaced with facts about this most potent and lovely of human guided missiles, which was current as a wonder of the modern world when I was a lad. The writing is also balanced by its liberal use of photographs too (500!), most of which I'd never seen before. In fact so evocative of the times are the photos that I wish for the follow-up volume X-15: Photo Scrapbook ('the photos they didn't have the space to print in Hypersonic') to be made available again.

Marco

ottima pubblicazione

Reviewed in Italy on October 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

pubblicazione essenziale relativamente all'X15. Molto ben realizzata sia come materiale fotografico che testuale. Riferimenti storici e di prodotto molto accurati

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Loranox

Tres bien documenté

Reviewed in France on December 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

Bon ouvrage sur l'histoire du développement du X15 avec beaucoup de détails et de photos. La densité du texte associé à un petit format rendent cet ouvrage un peu fastidieux à lire malheureusement. Beaucoup de détails historiques intéressant. A rapprocher avec le film "The Right Stuff" sorti en 1983.

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