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.
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Rebecca J. Rosen is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees coverage of American constitutional law and government in the Battle for the Constitution series.