“Dryden pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship no. 1 (56-6670) after a research flight.
Armstrong made his first X-15 flight on November 30, 1960, in the no. 1 X-15. He made his second flight on December 9, 1960, in the same aircraft. This was the first X-15 flight to use the ball nose, which provided accurate measurement of air speed and flow angle at supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The servo-actuated ball nose can be seen in this photo in front of Armstrong's right hand.
The X-15 employed a non-standard landing gear. It had a nose gear with two tires, but the main landing consisted of skids mounted at the rear of the vehicle. In the photo, the left skid is visible, as are marks on the lakebed from both skids. Because of the skids, the rocket-powered aircraft could only land on a dry lakebed, not on a concrete runway.”
Above at/per the following unresponsive & anti-proactive “professionals”:
www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/HTML/E60-6286.html
Also at/from:
www.nasa.gov/image-article/neil-armstrong-x-15-1/
Note also the residual frost on the fuselage, in the region over the liquid oxygen tank, above the "U. S. AIRFORCE" stenciling. Also, the erosion/abrasion evident in the area of the letters "N" and "A" on the vertical stabilizer.
A small linear "compression fold"(?) running between the open cockpit hatch & vertical stabilizer is only visible when viewed at an an angle and under oblique lighting, and does not detract. Photo has retained excellent high gloss.
