Flight 87 of the North American X-15 was a sub-orbital spaceflight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force on 27 June 1963.^[1] The X-15 was piloted by astronaut Robert A. Rushworth to an altitude of 86.7 km (53.9 mi) surpassing the U.S. definition of space. The X-15 was NASA's first space vehicle (the Mercury capsule flew into space first, but the X-15 was airborne before Big Joe 1). The Flight landed at Edwards Air Force Base. With this Rushworth was qualifying for his astronaut wings.


Position	Astronaut
Pilot	Robert A. Rushworth^[2] First spaceflight

References

^ "X-15 Flight 87". Archived from the original on December 28, 2016.
^ says, Gary Heger (August 22, 2020). "The First Reusable Spacecraft: The X-15 Flights Above the Karman Line". Drew Ex Machina.

v t e North American X-15
Operators	NASA United States Air Force
Manufacturer	North American Aviation
Pilots	Michael Adams Neil Armstrong Scott Crossfield William Dana Joe Engle William Knight John McKay Forrest Petersen Robert Rushworth Milton Thompson Joseph Walker Robert White
Flights	List of X-15 flights Flight 35 (first flight into the mesosphere, Walker) Flight 62 (first spaceflight, White) Flight 87 (spaceflight, Rushworth) Flight 90 (spaceflight, Walker) Flight 91 (spaceflight, program altitude record, Walker) Flight 188 (program speed record, Knight) Flight 191 (spaceflight, fatality, Adams)
Related	Bell X-1 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (Balls 8) Hypersonic speed List of X-planes Sub-orbital spaceflight