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Author
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Topic: Space Cover 407: Joe Engle, A Tribute
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Bob M Member Posts: 1833 From: Atlanta-area, GA USA Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 03-04-2017 07:44 AM
Space Cover of the Week, Week 407 (March 5, 2017) Space Cover #407: Astronaut Joe H. Engle: A TributeJoe 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. |
micropooz Member Posts: 1664 From: Washington, DC, USA Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 03-04-2017 07:51 AM
Great write-up on one of the nicest guys to have ever graced the space program, Bob! One can see a little more about his X-15 career here. |
astro-nut Member Posts: 1028 From: Washington, IL Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 03-04-2017 10:58 AM
I just wish that General Engle would write an autobiography about himself with his career in the U.S. Air Force, the X-15 Program, The ALT Program and the Space Shuttle Program? He could provide a first hand account on the programs and it would be a great read on a great Astronaut!! |
bobslittlebro Member Posts: 232 From: Douglasville, Ga U.S.A. Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 03-04-2017 12:32 PM
Always great to see your X-15 signed covers Bob. One of my favorite topics. |
Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 3556 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 03-09-2017 07:53 PM
As Bob pointed out, Major General Engle had a distinguished career as an Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut. He was also the youngest non-NASA pilot to qualify with an astronaut rating in 1965.As far as I know, Engle was one (if not the first) astronaut that accommodated requests from space cover collectors to "carry" covers for early space shuttle- related simulation training. On Feb. 23 and in Mar. 14, 1972 -- when the LMP was in training for Apollo 17 -- covers had been carried by Engle on what I believe may had been the very first space shuttle orbiter mockup test simulations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Of course, in early 1972, the shuttle program had not been completely allocated by the govermental space agency. That approval came in April 1972 as the Apollo 16 astronauts were on the moon. Engle inscribed and signed a couple of known space covers as; "Carried During Space Shuttle Simulation Training -- 23 Feb. 1972." | |
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