Former NASA astronaut Joe Engle has died. Engle, who piloted both the X-15 and space shuttle, died at his home in Houston on July 10, 2024, at the age of 91. He was the last surviving X-15 pilot.
Engle became an astronaut at age 32 while flying the X-15 for the US Air Force, becoming the youngest pilot ever to qualify as an astronaut. When selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1966, he was the only person selected already engaged in spaceflight operations.
“He was one of the first astronauts I met at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
As a NASA astronaut, Engle supported the Apollo Program and was a backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 14. In 1977, he served as commander of the space shuttle Enterprise, which used a modified Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft to release Enterprise for approach and landing tests. In November 1981, he commanded the second flight of the space shuttle Columbia. He was the first and only pilot to manually fly an aerospace vehicle from Mach 25 to landing.
He accumulated the last of his 224 hours in space when he commanded the space shuttle Discovery in August 1985, one of the most challenging shuttle missions ever. On that mission, the crew deployed three commercial satellites and retrieved, repaired, and redeployed another malfunctioning satellite launched on a previous shuttle mission.
Engle flew more than 180 different aircraft types and logged more than 14,000 flight hours. His military decorations include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, US Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster. He has received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and Space Flight Medal, as well as the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Collier Trophy, the Goddard Space Trophy, the General Thomas D. White Space Trophy, and the Kinchelow Experimental Test Pilot’s Trophy. In 1992, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.
“General Joe, as he was known to many, was at his happiest in any cockpit,” said his wife Jeanie Engle. “Always with a smile, he lived a fulfilled life as a proud American, US Air Force pilot, astronaut, and Kansas Jayhawk.”
