NASA X-15 pilots take a minute to have some fun out at the High Speed Flight Station (later renamed the Dryden Flight Research Center) in California in 1966. The rocket-powered X-15 spaceplane reached a speed of 4,520 miles per hour, a record for winged aircraft that was not broken until 1981.
Below, recent Pictures of the Day:
Image: NASA.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-astronauts-enjoy-a-different-kind-of-levity/249600/
