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  Space Cover 407: Joe Engle, A Tribute

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Author Topic:   Space Cover 407: Joe Engle, A Tribute
Bob M
Member

Posts: 1833
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-04-2017 07:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bob M   Click Here to Email Bob M     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Space Cover of the Week, Week 407 (March 5, 2017)

Space Cover #407: Astronaut Joe H. Engle: A Tribute

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.

micropooz
Member

Posts: 1664
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 03-04-2017 07:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for micropooz   Click Here to Email micropooz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
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
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Posts: 1028
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 03-04-2017 10:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for astro-nut   Click Here to Email astro-nut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
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

posted 03-04-2017 12:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for bobslittlebro   Click Here to Email bobslittlebro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
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

posted 03-09-2017 07:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
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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