The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit has contracted GE Aerospace to develop Derecho, an air-launched hypersonic test vehicle designed to reach Mach 5.
TowerEight military pilots flew the X-15 above 50 miles in the 1960s, earning astronaut wings and defining the altitude threshold still encoded in U.S. commercial space law today.
VectorPete Knight flew the X-15 to Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967 - a speed no winged aircraft has matched in nearly 59 years, and a record built on engineering that still shapes aerospace today.
VectorThe North American X-15 holds the all-time speed record for a winged aircraft and sent eight pilots to space - records that have stood for nearly sixty years.
VectorHow Stratolaunch turned Roc, the widest airplane ever built, into a reusable hypersonic test platform flying Talon A vehicles past Mach 5.
VectorInside Stratolaunch's Roc, the widest airplane ever built, and how it became a reusable runway in the sky for hypersonic flight testing.
VectorStratolaunch's Roc, the largest-wingspan aircraft ever flown, now drops reusable Talon-A vehicles into hypersonic flight for U.S. defense testing.
VectorHow the Stratolaunch Roc, the widest airplane ever built, became a reusable runway in the sky for hypersonic test flights.
VectorStratolaunch's Roc, the widest airplane ever built at 385 feet, now air-launches the Talon-A hypersonic vehicle past Mach 5.
VectorRadio Hangar explores Hermeus and the Chimera Engine, the Turbojet That Turns Into a Ramjet in Flight, and the Long Road From Mach Five on a Test Stand to a Passenger Someday.
VectorRadio Hangar explores Stratolaunch's Roc and the Talon-A, the Six-Engine Twin-Fuselage Giant That Air-Drops a Reusable Hypersonic Testbed Over the Pacific.
VectorThe North American X-15 flew to Mach 6.7 and the edge of space, pioneering the hypersonic and reentry technology behind every spacecraft that followed.
VectorHow Stratolaunch's giant Roc aircraft and reusable Talon-A vehicle revived air-launch to close America's hypersonic testing gap.
VectorThe Stratolaunch Roc - the world's largest operational aircraft - serves as a reusable launch platform for hypersonic test vehicles, accelerating U.S. defense research at lower cost per flight.
VectorHermeus is building a Mach 5 aircraft to cross the Atlantic in 90 minutes, and they've already put test hardware in the air.
VectorHermeus is building a Mach 5 reusable aircraft using combined-cycle propulsion, with military contracts funding the path to eventual commercial hypersonic flight.
VectorHermeus Corporation is building a Mach 5 combined-cycle engine to make New York to London a 90-minute flight - here's where they actually stand.
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