Joseph Albert Walker
| Joseph A. Walker | |
|---|---|
Walker in 1961
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| USAF / NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | Joseph Albert Walker February 20, 1921 Washington, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 8, 1966 (aged 45) near Barstow, California, U.S. |
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Other occupation
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Test pilot, experimental physicist |
| Washington and Jefferson College, B.A. 1942 | |
| Rank | Captain, USAF |
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Time in space
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22 minutes |
| Selection | 1958 USAF Man In Space Soonest |
| Missions | X-15 Flight 90, X-15 Flight 91 |
| Retirement | August 22, 1963 |
| Awards |  |
Joseph Albert "Joe" Walker (February 20, 1921 – June 8, 1966) flew the world's first two spaceplane flights in 1963, thereby becoming the United States' seventh astronaut. Walker was a Captain in the United States Air Force, an American World War II pilot, an experimental physicist, a NASA test pilot, and a member of the U.S. Air Force Man In Space Soonest spaceflight program. His two X-15 experimental rocket aircraft flights in 1963 that exceeded the Kármán line – the altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles), generally considered to mark the threshold of outer space – qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, Walker graduated from Trinity High School in 1938. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Washington and Jefferson College in 1942, before entering the United States Army Air Forces. He was married and had four children.
During World War II, Walker flew the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter and F-5A Lightning photo aircraft (a modified P-38) on weather reconnaissance flights. Walker earned the Distinguished Flying Cross once, awarded by General Nathan Twining in July 1944, and the Air Medal with seven oak leaf clusters.
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Wikipedia