Edwards Air Force Base, located in the Mohave Desert in Southern California, has achieved more major milestones in flight than anywhere else in the world. The first jet plane, the XP-59, was tested there in 1942. The iconic Capt. Charles "Chuck" Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier with his Mach 1 flight of a Bell X-1 in 1947, giving America its first sample of "The Right Stuff."

Rocket Power Comes to Edwards

The first rocket-powered plane, the D-558 II Skyrocket flew at Edwards in 1950. This opened up a whole new concept in aeronautics. In January of 1961, the delta-winged B-58 crew broke the world speed records for flying with a 2,000-kilogram payload, a 1,000-kg payload and no payload. Then, two days later, it broke its own records in all three categories. The B-58 flew at twice the speed of the Russian plane that had previously held these records.

In October of 1967, Maj. William "Pete" Knight flew a modified X-15 to a speed of Mach 6.70 (4,520 mph). That was the fastest a human had ever flown in a winged aircraft, a record that still stands. This flight is generally considered the boundary between air travel and space travel.

Speaking of space travel, the researchers at Edwards Air Force Base actually built and tested a disk-shaped craft--a "flying saucer"--during the late 50s. Unfortunately, it never flew more than two feet off the ground. But we can feel safe in assuming that if we do ever create a craft to take humans to other galaxies, it will be tested at Edwards.