Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Joseph "Joe" Henry Engle (born August 26 1932 in
Dickinson County, Kansas|Dickinson County, Kansas)
is a former NASA astronaut and a retired U.S. Air
Force colonel.  He is married to the former Mary
Catherine Lawrence of Mission Hills, Kansas and
has two children. Engle's recreational interests
include flying (including World War II fighter
aircraft), big game hunting, back-packing and
athletics.

Engle received a bachelor of science in
Aeronautical Engineering from the University of
Kansas in 1955.  He is a member of the Society of
Experimental Test Pilots.

Engle helped to flight test the joint NASA-Air
Force X-15 rocket airplane.  During the course of
testing, Engle earned his USAF astronaut wings, a
Distinguished Flying Cross and other awards.

Engle was one of the first astronauts in the Space
Shuttle program, having flight tested the Space
Shuttle Enterprise in 1977.  He also was on board
the second orbital test flight of the Space
Shuttle Columbia in 1981.

==Background==

Engle received his commission in the Air Force
through the Reserve Officers Training Program at
the University of Kansas, and entered flying
school in 1957. He served with the 474th Fighter
Day Squadron and the 309th Tactical Fighter
Squadron at George Air Force Base, California. He
is a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School and
the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School.
Engle was a test pilot in the X-15 research
program at Edwards Air Force Base, California,
from June 1963 until his assignment to the Lyndon
B. Johnson Space Center. Three of his 16 flights
in the X-15 exceeded an altitude of 50 miles (80
km) (the altitude that qualifies a pilot for
astronaut rating). Prior to that time, he was a
test pilot in the Fighter Test Group at Edwards.

He has flown over 155 different types of aircraft
(25 different fighters) during his career: logging
more than 12,400 hours flight time; 9,000 in jet
aircraft.

Engle was one of the 19 astronauts selected by
NASA in April 1966. He was back-up lunar module
pilot for the Apollo 14 mission and was due to
land on the moon as lunar module pilot for Apollo
17, but was replaced by Harrison Schmitt when
Apollo 18 was cancelled.

He was commander of one of the two crews that flew
the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test
Flights from June through October 1977. The Space
Shuttle Enterprise was carried to 25,000 feet on
top of the Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, and then
released for its two minute glide flight to
landing. In this series of flight tests, he
evaluated the Orbiter handling qualities and
landing characteristics, and obtained the
stability and control, and performance data in the
subsonic flight envelope for the Space Shuttle.
Engle and Richard Truly flew the first flight of
the Space Shuttle that was boosted into orbit. He
was the back-up commander for STS-1, the first
orbital test flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. He
was spacecraft commander on STS-2 and STS-51-I,
and has logged over 225 hours in space.

He served as Deputy Associate Administrator for
Manned Space Flight at NASA headquarters from
March 1982 to December 1982. He retained his
flight astronaut status and returned to the
Johnson Space Center in January 1983. He also
participated in the STS-51-L |Challenger disaster
investigation in 1986, and would do other
consulting work on the Shuttle well into the
1990s.

Joe Engle retired from the USAF on November 30,
1986. On December 1, 1986 he was appointed to the
Kansas Air National Guard and subsequently
promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.

He is currently an aerospace and sporting goods
consultant, and continues an active flying career
in high performance aircraft.

==External links==
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/engle-jh.htm
l NASA Bio