Joe Engle | |
|---|---|
 Engle in 1971 | |
| Born | Joe Henry Engle (1932-08-26)August 26, 1932 Abilene, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | July 10, 2024(2024-07-10) (aged 91) Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery,Arlington, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | University of Kansas (BS) |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross NASA Distinguished Service Medal |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Major General,USAF/ANG |
Time in space | 9d 8h 30m |
| Selection | NASA Group 5 (1966) |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |    |
| Retirement | November 28, 1986 |
Joe Henry Engle (August 26, 1932 – July 10, 2024) was an American pilot,aeronautical engineer, andNASAastronaut. He was the commander of twoSpace Shuttle missions includingSTS-2 in 1981, the program's second orbital flight. He also flew two flights in the Shuttle program's 1977Approach and Landing Tests. Engle was one of twelve pilots who flew theNorth American X-15, an experimentalspaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA.
As an X-15 pilot, Engle made three flights above 50 miles (80 km), thus qualifying forastronaut wings under the American convention for theboundary of space. In 1966, he was selected for NASA's5th Astronaut Group, joining theApollo program. He was backupLunar Module Pilot (LMP) forApollo 14 and was originally scheduled to walk on the Moon as LMP forApollo 17. However, cancellation of later flights prompted NASA to select geologist-astronautHarrison Schmitt as the Lunar Module Pilot, displacing Engle.
Engle was born on August 26, 1932, inAbilene, Kansas.[1] He was raised inChapman, Kansas, where he attended primary and secondary school.[2] Engle graduated fromDickinson County High School in 1950.[3] He was active as aBoy Scout and earned the rank ofFirst Class.[4] Engle received aBachelor of Science degree inAerospace Engineering from theUniversity of Kansas in 1955, where he was a member of theTheta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity.[5][6]
Engle was married to the former Mary Catherine Lawrence (1934–2004)[7] ofMission Hills, Kansas, and had two children and one stepchild.[1] After her death, he married Jeanie Carter ofHouston, Texas.[1] Engle's recreational interests includedflying (includingWorld War II fighter aircraft),big game hunting,backpacking, and athletics.[8] He was a member of theSociety of Experimental Test Pilots and became a Fellow in 2009.[9]
Engle died at his home in Houston, Texas on July 10, 2024, at the age of 91.[10][11] With Engle's death, all 12 pilots to fly the X-15 are now deceased.[12]
Engle received his commission in the U.S. Air Force through theAir Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at theUniversity of Kansas. While in school he was a member of the Professional Engineering FraternityTheta Tau, and decided to become atest pilot. While working atCessna Aircraft during the summer, he learned how to fly from a fellowdraftsman, Henry Dittmer.[13][14]
Engle entered flying school in 1957, and received hispilot wings in 1958. He flew theF-100 Super Sabre with the474th Fighter Day Squadron and the309th Tactical Fighter Squadron atGeorge Air Force Base, California.Chuck Yeager recommended Engle forAir Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School, from which he graduated in 1961, and he was later assigned to the third class of theAerospace Research Pilot School, despite his reluctance to leave "stick and rudder" flying for aspace capsule.[14]
After serving as a test pilot in the Fighter Test Group atEdwards Air Force Base, California, Engle was a test pilot in theX-15 research program at Edwards from June 1963 until his assignment to the Manned Spacecraft Center (now theLyndon B. Johnson Space Center). Engle had applied with fellow ARPS studentCharles Bassett andMichael Collins to thethird NASA astronaut group, but the Air Force withdrew Engle's NASA application and instead chose him to replaceRobert M. White in the X-15 program, which pleased Engle.[14]
Engle's parents witnessed his X-15 flight of June 29, 1965, which exceeded an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) and qualified him forastronaut wings; he again exceeded 50 miles twice during his career of 16 flights.[14] On his final X-15 mission, free flight 153 (1-61-101), which took place on October 14, 1965, he became the first of only two pilots to accomplish a sub-orbital space flight in an X-15 without the benefit of the assistance provided by the MH-96 adaptive flight control system.[15] Despite what he later called "the best flying job in the world", Engle decided to apply again to NASA as he expected to be rotated to another Air Force assignment within a year and hoped to go to the Moon.[14]
Engle flew over 185 different types of aircraft (25 different fighters) during his career, logging more than 15,400 hours flight time of which 9,000 were injet aircraft.[1]
Engle was one of19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966.[16] He served on the support crew forApollo 10. He then served as backupLunar Module Pilot for theApollo 14 mission. He was due to land on theMoon as Lunar Module Pilot forApollo 17, but was replaced by geologistHarrison Schmitt. This was a result of pressure from the scientific community to have a professional geologist explore the Moon, and not just test pilot engineers who had been given rudimentary geology training. In response to getting bumped from the mission, he said "When you think about it, the lunar missions were geology-oriented."[8]
According to Engle,Deke Slayton asked him whether he would prefer to fly onSkylab,Apollo–Soyuz, or the Space Shuttle; Engle responded that he would prefer the Shuttle as it was an airplane.[14]
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Engle was commander of one of the two crews that flew theSpace Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Flights from June through October 1977. TheSpace ShuttleEnterprise was carried to 25,000 feet on top of theBoeing 747 carrier aircraft, and then released for its two-minute glide flight to landing. In this series of flight tests, Engle evaluated the Orbiter handling qualities and landing characteristics, and obtained the stability and control, and performance data in the subsonic flight envelope for the Space Shuttle. He was the backup commander forSTS-1, the first orbital test flight ofSpace ShuttleColumbia. Together with pilotRichard Truly he flew as commander on the second flight of the Space Shuttle,STS-2, becoming the last NASA rookie to command a spaceflight untilRaja Chari in 2021 onSpaceX Crew-3. He was also mission commander onSTS-51-I and logged over 225 hours in space.[14]
Engle was one of two people to have flown into space on two different types of winged vehicles: theX-15 and the Space Shuttle, on STS-2 (the other person beingFrederick W. Sturckow). Engle manually flew large numbers of flight-test maneuvers on the Shuttle during reentry and landing; periods of manually flown test maneuvers were interspersed with periods of computer control.[14][17]
He served as deputy associate administrator for manned space flight at NASA Headquarters from March to December 1982.[1] He retained his astronaut flight status and returned toJohnson Space Center in January 1983.[1] He also participated in theChallenger disaster investigation in 1986, and did other consulting work on the Shuttle well into the 1990s.[18]
Engle retired from the USAF with the rank ofcolonel on November 14, 1986, and from NASA on November 28, 1986.[19][20] On December 1, 1986, he was appointed by theGovernor of Kansas and theUnited States Secretary of the Air Force to a billet in theKansas Air National Guard at the rank ofbrigadier general, initially serving as a special assistant to theadjutant general. Under this arrangement, Engle was permitted to retain Houston residency.[19][21] The discrepancy between his Air Force and Air National Guard ranks was rectified by Senate confirmation of his promotion on February 2, 1988.[22] He subsequently served asAir National Guard assistant to the commander in chief,United States Space Command andNorth American Air Defense Command (NORAD), with headquarters atPeterson Air Force Base,Colorado. Engle ultimately retired from the Air National Guard around 1991 at the rank ofmajor general, a promotion previously confirmed by the Senate on June 22, 1989.[23][24]
In 1992, he was inducted into theAerospace Walk of Honor.[25] In 2001, Engle was inducted into theNational Aviation Hall of Fame and theU.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.[26][27]
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