The two-ship formation approached Lakebed Runway 18 at 300 mph. A dark-red smoke grenade lit by the ground crew acted as a windsock for the pilots, although forward visibility on landing was always severely limited from the X-15’s cockpit. For that reason the “low chase” F-104 pilot made critical altitude call-outs in those last few moments before touchdown. At 400 ft., the spring-actuated landing skids snapped into position as the nose gear dropped by gravity. This system worked perfectly on all 199 X-15 flights. If it hadn’t, the only option for the pilot to was to immediately eject before the airplane became the world’s fastest plow.

That morning, Engle had flown the experimental rocket plane to a peak altitude of 280,600 ft. reaching a top speed of Mach 4.94 (3,432 mph). This flight was the 138th of the program and the fourteenth of his sixteen total X-15 missions. On this day, he joined Bob White, Joe Walker, Jack McKay, Robert Rushworth, Bill Dana, Michael Adams, and Pete Knight as members of the exclusive club of X-15 pilots who had flown more than 50 miles above the Earth’s surface (the official threshold of space), thus qualifying for Astronaut Wings. Since Engle flew the Space Shuttle in orbit years later, my painting of his X-15 landing is aptly titled “First Re-Entry.”