Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.
Joe Engle, the first astronaut to fly in space aboard two different winged vehicles, has died at the age of 91."Blessed with natural piloting skills, General Joe, as he was known to many, was at his happiest in any cockpit," read the note."He lived a fulfilled life as a proud American, U.S. Air Force pilot, astronaut and Kansas Jayhawk. His passing leaves a tremendous loss in our hearts.
On Nov. 12, 1981, Engle launched with Richard"Dick" Truly on STS-2, the second mission of the Space Transportation System. The mission demonstrated that the."And very loud and noisy — very unspacey, by the way — it was like an old pickup truck with a lot of loose tools in the back." 149 times. He is recorded as the sixth person to fly a suborbital flight and 104th to enter orbit in the Association of Space Explorers' Registry of Space Travelers.
"I learned later that Chuck's philosophy was that the good pilots are the ones who have the most flying, who go after flying the hardest and take it serious, and I think that that probably influenced him to support and recommend me for the test pilot school more than anything else," said Engle. Engle was reassigned to the shuttle program, where he was paired with his future STS-2 crewmate, Truly, to be one of two teams that demonstrated the orbiter's ability to land like a plane as part of a series of approach and landing tests. Engle and Truly flew one"captive" flight with the prototyperemaining attached to the top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and two"free" flights, separating at altitude from the modified 747 jetliner to then touch down at Edwards.
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