The High Frontier

I've got a whole lot of spaceflight themed designs on my @spreadshirt store. shop.spreadshirt.com/the-high-front… Men's, women's & kid's styles in a full range of sizes and colours. #Apollo, #Shuttle, #Gemini, #Sputnik, #X15, #Soyuz #Skylab and much more. T-shirts from $16.99 / £14.99

December 23, 1919: Born on this day, artist Robert McCall, who in 1969 painted this depiction of Apollo 8 firing its SPS engine to return to Earth on Christmas Eve 1968. He was also chosen by Stanley Kubrick to create the key art for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A perfect XMas gift: yesterday the Springer-Praxis has released the book "X-Planes from the X-1 to the X-60: An Illustrated History" realized with my friend Michael Gorn.

December 22, 1947: Aviation Week magazine breaks one of the biggest aviation stories in its history. In an exclusive, the magazine reveals to the world that the sound barrier had been broken more than a month earlier by Capt. Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1.

#OTD 20 years ago: 13 December 2001, X-38 prototype of Crew Return Vehicle for @Space_Station drops from NB-52B mothership as it begins its 8th free flight. Joint #NASA/#ESA/@DLR_en project @esaspaceflight @NASAhistory 👉dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/…

Looking for the perfect present for the #space enthusiast or #AvGeek in your life? You can get 50% OFF all Outward Odyssey books (including my own contribution, Beyond Blue Skies) from @UnivNebPress now!!! nebraskapress.unl.edu/holiday-sale/ @davidhitt @F_French @EmilyLCarney

@DrChrisCombs An incredible recovery by Yeager, but both Bell Aircraft and the NACA had warned Ridley and Yeager not to exceed Mach 2.3 as the X-1A was expected to depart from controlled flight beyond this. The warnings were ignored in the push for a record #AvGeek @EdwardsAFB @NASAArmstrong

Imagine having this happen to you in the cockpit of an experimental supersonic aircraft…then recovering and gliding back to base. Holy cow Chuck #AvGeek #OTD

Hey #aerospace Twitter friends 👋. I’ve been on a long social media break trying to sort out a whole lot of life stuff 😬. Anyway, hoping to be back around a bit more soon! (Img: John Porter)

The Air Force Flight Test Museum is open again! The models on the wall are all aircraft that made their first flight at Edwards — takeoff, landing, or both. More pictures later!

Pay your money, make your choice - the market will decide how important the distinction is. But worth noting that X-15 pilot Bob White commented on the dramatic difference between the view from 50miles vs that from 314,750 ft. Maybe these will be very different experiences?

My Amazon UK review of Beyond Blue Skies The Rocket Plane Programs That Led to The Space Age, @thehighfrontier University of Nebraska Press 2020. A good book. Not an academic just an av geek with a keyboard, all mistakes mine. @Books2Cover amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-re…

@james_2904 @Books2Cover Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and authoritative review of my book. I’m glad you found it interesting- it’s a story that has always fascinated me and I know I’m not alone in that!

@EmilyLCarney You’re not wrong

In 1969, the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight proposed a vast and elaborate piloted spaceflight scenario that encompassed LEO, GEO, Moon, and Mars outposts by 1990. NASA boss Tom Paine was its champion. Read all about it here: spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/thinki…

I brought my #ПОЕХАЛИ! shirt by @thehighfrontier to Russia. Can’t wait to wear it in celebration of #Gagarin60 at #GLEX2021! 👕👩🏻‍🚀🚀 I also hope it’ll be warm enough to wear a tshirt 😉

@pilliarscreatio @artycosmos Happy birthday Gav 🚀

Thoroughly spoilt by @artycosmos this morning. Im sure you can spot a common theme 😬

@aisoffice Fun fact - Jim McDivitt was actually going to be White’s replacement in the X-15, but left for NASA before making a flight, so Engle got the seat

OTD in 1963 USAF pilot & ARPS III graduate Captain Joe Engle was named as a replacement X-15 pilot for Major Robert White. Engle would complete 16 free flights in the aircraft including 3 which exceed 50 miles (80 km) qualifying him for the USAF astronaut wings.

@EmilyLCarney @EAA Very cool 😎, you’ll do a great job

It’s always a good day when we add to our Outward Odyssey library. @artycosmos ordered this for us so I have plenty to read over the bank holiday weekend .... @thehighfrontier

@pilliarscreatio @artycosmos Hope you enjoy it 🤞🏻