Bill Dana who flew the X-15 to 59 miles altitude and a speed of 3897 mph has died at age 83. Dana was awarded civilian astronaut wings in 2005 for two of his flights to the edge of space. In an interview once, he said he never remembered being afraid of dying but had a great fear of doing something stupid to embarrass himself in front of his peers. Personally, I think it took a lot of courage to let them strap you into something that was basically a cockpit bolted to fuel tanks and a huge rocket engine.

CW

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RIP. I remember the X-15 from when I was a kid. I thought it about the coolest thing out there.

I remember hearing of his flight years ago. One brave young man.

I must admit at first I thought you were talking about the other Bill Dana, aka Jose Jimenez "The Reluctant Astronaut".