Note: Only forum leaders may delete posts.
*HTML is ON *UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend
Smilies Legend
[b]Space Cover #407: Astronaut Joe H. Engle: A Tribute[/b] Joe Engle was born in Abeline, Kansas, in 1932. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966 and flew his first orbital spaceflight in 1981 on the space shuttle's second flight, STS-2. Engle's many accomplishments and achievements include: flying the X-15 rocket plane sixteen times, with three flights over 50 miles in altitude; being the only pilot to fly two different winged vehicles in space (the X-15 and space shuttle); piloting two of the five Enterprise ALT free flights; flying two space shuttle flights, and on STS-2, being the only pilot to manually fly the space shuttle orbiter at Mach 25 to landing. Engle was the original Apollo 17 lunar module pilot and would have been the twelfth man to walk on the moon. However, the decision to replace Engle with geologist Harrison Schmitt denied Engle his lunar flight. The top cover above marks Engle's sixteenth and final X-15 flight and the bottom cover marks the second ALT Enterprise free flight and is signed by CDR Engle and PLT Richard Truly. The top cover above marks STS-2, crew signed by both Engle and Truly. The cover is canceled for both the launch (KSC) and landing (EAFB, CA), with appropriate launch and landing stamps affixed. The bottom cover marks STS-51I (20th space shuttle flight) and is autographed by CDR Engle and his crew. Engle retired from NASA in 1986 and from the USAF as a Major General in the Kansas National Guard.
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 1999-2024 collectSPACE. All rights reserved.