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Joseph A. Walker was born on February 20, 1921 in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was a pilot in World War II, an experimental physicist, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration test pilot and astronaut. He was one of the first of twelve pilots to fly the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane operated by the Air Force and NASA. Walker died on June 8, 1966, when his F-104 Starfighter chase aircraft collided with a North American XB-70 Valkyrie. Pictured is Joseph A. Walker, test pilot who set a new world altitude record in the X-15 experimental rocket plane. Walker said "I'm a has-been," and declared he is relinquishing his altitude record of 32 miles to Yuri Gagarin, the Russian major who orbited the earth at speeds of 17,000 miles per hour at an altitude of 100 miles. Walker is in his office at Edwards Air Force Base. Photograph dated April 14, 1961. See images 00155895 through 00155897 for all photos in this series.
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