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Joseph Albert Walker (20 February 1921 - 8 June
1966) was an United States|American military test
pilot; in 1963, he made two X-15 flights past the
100 kilometer edge of space, the only spaceplane
flights past that threshold made until
SpaceShipOne in 2004. These flights qualified him
as an astronaut under both U.S. Air Force and
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale rules.
Joe Walker was the first person to enter space
twice.

Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, Walker earned a
degree in physics from Washington and Jefferson
College before entering the United States Army Air
Force. He flew P-38 aircraft in World War II.

After World War II, Walker spent 21 years working
as a test pilot. In 1960, he made the first test
flight of the X-15 aircraft; Walker would go on to
fly the X-15 24 times, including the only two
flights of the X-15 to exceed 100 kilometers in
altitude, X-15 Flight 90|Flight 90 (19 July, 1963;
106 km) and X-15 Flight 91|Flight 91 (22 August,
1963; 108 km).

One of the first Fellows of the Society of
Experimental Test Pilots, Walker was killed on
June 8, 1966, in a collision between his F-104
chase plane and an XB-70. Walker was married and
had four children.