Comment by Valentino Martinez on July 25, 2011 at 4:06am

One of my proudest experiences as a recruiting professional was being part of the team that helped land MAJOR GENERAL JOE ENGLE, USAF/AIR NATIONAL GUARD, RETIRED; NASA ASTRONAUT, RETIRED, to work on Rockwell International’s North American Aircraft Operations’ (RI-NAAO) National Aerospace Plane (NASP X-30).

 

General Engle was kind enough to thank me with a personally autographed photo—one of my prized possessions, particularly in light of the final space shuttle flight.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on July 25, 2011 at 8:20am

Now that is a placement! I have seen recruiters get flowers, gift certificates, and fruit baskets- not many can say they got a personal autograph from an Astronaut.

Comment by Valentino Martinez on July 25, 2011 at 8:22pm

Thanks, Tim--

Frankly, this particular (Retired) Astronaut, General Joe Engle, is unique beyond the standard of a highly select group of professionals.

General Engle was in the first group of selected Astronauts which makes him one of the true pioneers when one considers the tremendous risks associated with space travel in its infancy.  The “risks” are no less today, but when you’re flying where men (and later, women) had never flown before—you are among the ULTIMATE TEST PILOTS—in my view the most daring of the most daring.  These folks actually define “PUSHING THE ENVELOPE”( In aerodynamics, the flight envelope or performance envelope of an aircraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or altitude—Wikipedia).

In fact, when you think of the General Chuck Yeager, famed test pilot and one of the first men to break the sound barrier (see photo below which is an actual image of a jet fighter breaking the sound barrier traveling at MACH 1 speed is an aircraft traveling faster than a speeding bullet.  General Yeager’s daring do was realistically featured in the movie The Right Stuff (1983), as a daring test pilot testing the flying qualities and limits of the X-15—on of the first “space planes”.

General Joe Engle also flew the X-15 as a test pilot and also took it to its limits…and beyond.  His resume, literally and figuratively, read like something from out-of-this-world—because he’s among the few who has been out of this world.  General Engle was the youngest astronaut of the initial group and had already flown the X-15 sixteen times—with three flights in excess of the 50-mile (264,000 feet) altitude required for astronaut rating.

 

“General Engle was the Flight Commander for the Space Shuttle “Enterprise” for test flights and was scheduled to walk on the Moon but the trip was cancelled due to budget cuts..  On 12 Nov 1981, General Engle commanded the second orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle “Columbia”, launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL. On this flight he became the first and only pilot to manually fly an aerospace vehicle from Mach 25 (25X the speed of sound) to landing.” (Source:  NASA)  

 

General Engle is a highly decorated U. S. Air Force officer and NASA Astronaut “who has flown over 185 different types of aircraft including 38 different fighter and attack aircraft. He has logged more than 14,700 flight hours – 9,900 in jets and over 224 hours in space. His military decorations include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster. He has also been awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal with device. In 2001 he was one of four aviation pioneers enshrined into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.” (Source: NASA)

 

As I posted, earlier--in my forty years in the recruitment business—having directl

Comment by Valentino Martinez on July 25, 2011 at 8:23pm

As I posted, earlier--in my forty years in the recruitment business—having directly and indirectly facilitated or contributed to the hire of thousands of professionals—few come close to the caliber of achievement in such rarified air (space) as Major General Joe Engle.  And I feel it’s fitting and appropriate to borrow from the famous intro statement from the Star Trek TV series that observed the mission was…”To boldly go where no man has gone before.”  General Joe Engle was among the first to do so, and was one of the boldest.  

Comment by Valentino Martinez on July 25, 2011 at 8:37pm

How fast is fast? To give a perspective of how tremendous the feat was when General Engle manually landed the Space Shuttle “Columbia”, on November 12, 1981--traveling from Mach 25 (25x the speed of sound) to landing.

o Mazda Rx8 – 180mph

o Indy 500 Race Car – 237mph

o Speed of Sound – 760mph

o Land Speed Record – 766mph

o 727 Jet – 600mph

o Concorde Supersonic Jet – 1,450mph

o Winchester .270 Rifle Bullet – 1,924mph

o SR-71 Blackbird Jet – 2,193mph

o X-15 Rocket Jet  - 4,520mph

o Space Shuttle (Re-Entry Speed) – 17,500mph (Mach 25)

 

http://my.execpc.com/~culp/space/speed.html

Comment by Valentino Martinez on July 28, 2011 at 12:58pm

While I did credit the source of the photo I used of an  FA-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier (7 July 1999) - filtered.jpg...in my photo collection.  I didn't credit the source in this blog post--which I do now. 

Off the coast of Pusan, South Korea: An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One (VFA-151) breaks the sound barrier in the skies over the Pacific Ocean. VFA-151 is deployed aboard USS Constellation (CVN 64). This is an edited version (reduced grain).
Date

Shot on 7. July, 1999
Edited on 16 April, 2008
Source

http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=1445, Photo number: 990707-N-6483G-001

* http://www.news.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/990707-N-6483G-0...

Author

Ensign John Gay, U.S. Navy

 

 

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