X-15 Flight 191

X-15 Flight 191 was the final flight of North American X-15-3 and the seventh X-15 flight by U.S. Air Force Major Michael J. Adams. NASA's X-15 history identifies the program as a joint NASA, Air Force, Navy, and North American Aviation effort that used air-launched rocket aircraft to study piloted hypersonic and high-altitude flight. On November 15, 1967, Adams was released from the NB-52B over Delamar Dry Lake at about 45,000 feet. The flight climbed to 266,000 feet, high enough for Adams to qualify for U.S. astronaut wings. During descent, X-15-3 entered a loss-of-control sequence and broke apart after reentry loads increased. Adams was killed in the accident, and the aircraft was destroyed. The mission remains an important and tragic record in the X-15 program because it was both a qualifying suborbital spaceflight and the program's only fatal X-15 accident.