Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. xiv, [2], 375, [1] pages. Foreword by Neil A. Armstrong. Illustrations. Appendices. Index. Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American naval officer, aviator, engineer, and NASA research pilot. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA. He was also selected for participation in the X-20 Dyna-Soar program. Following his involvement with the X-15 program, Thompson became Chief Engineer and Director of Research Projects at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Thompson became a flight test engineer for the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle. During his two years at Boeing, he flew on the sister aircraft of Dryden's B-52B air-launch vehicle. On 16 August 1963, Thompson became the first person to fly a lifting body, the lightweight NASA M2-F1. He flew it a total of 47 times, and also made five flights in the M2-F2. In At the Edge of Space, Milton O. Thompson tells the dramatic story of one of the most successful research aircraft ever flown. The first full-length account of the X-15 program, the book profiles the twelve test pilots (Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle, Scott Crossfield, and the author among them) chosen for the program. Thompson has translated a highly technical subject into readable accounts of each pilot's participation, including many heroic and humorous anecdotes and highlighting the pilots' careers after the program ended in 1968. More