Joe Henry Engle (1932 - 2024)

Born 26 Aug 1932 in Chapman, Dickinson, Kansas, United States

Ancestors

Died 10 Jul 2024 at age 91 in Houston, Harris, Texas, United States

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Biography

Father: Abner Ethan Engle
Mother: Margaret J Beaver

Joe Henry Engle (born August 26, 1932), (Maj Gen, USAF, Ret.), is an American pilot who served in the United States Air Force, test pilot for the North American X-15 program, aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut.

1932	Born in Chapman, Kansas, USA
1955	Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering, University of Kansas
1956	Married Mary Catherine Lawrence on 06 Oct 1956 in Missouri, USA.[1]
1958	Received pilot wings
1963	Selected for the X-15 program in X-15 Pilots group.[2] 16 flights
1964	Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, his first of 2	Distinguished Flying Cross
1965	Received USAF Astronaut badge for exceeding 50 miles (80467 m) altitude during X-15 flights 138, 143 and 153
1966	Selected by NASA in Astronauts Group 5[3]
1977	Flew on Space Shuttle Enterprise ALT-10, ALT-13 and ALT-15 with Richard Truly	Enterprise ALT
1978	Awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal[4] and the Distinguished Flying Cross, his second.
	NASA Exceptional Service	Distinguished Flying Cross
1981	Flew on Columbia STS-2 with Richard Truly. Awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Space Flight Medal, his first of 2[4]

STS-2	NASA Distinguished Service	NASA Space Flight

STS-51-I	NASA Space Flight	Air Force Distinguished Service

1986	Retired from NASA, US Air Force, promoted to Major General. Awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.	Defense Distinguished Service
2001	Inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame[5]
2006	Awarded the NASA Public Service Medal[4]

Major General Joe H. Engle is retired from the Air National Guard, the United States Air Force, and the NASA Astronaut program. He was married to the late Mary Catherine Lawrence of Mission Hills, Kansas and has two grown children and two grandchildren. He is now married to (living person, identity withheld in accordance with Wikitree policy) of Houston, Texas and has one stepchild. He was an engineering consultant and technical advisor on space vehicles and space operations, and is serving as Technical Advisor to NASA’s International Space Station Advisory Committee. He was also a consultant-spokesman for Bushnell Performance Optics.

General Engle was born 26 Aug 1932 in Dickinson County, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956. He received his commission through the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Kansas and entered USAF flying school in March 1956.

General Engle served with the 474th Fighter Day Squadron (later re-designated the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron) flying F100’s at George AFB, CA. In 1960 he was selected for the USAF Test Pilot School and the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School (commanded by then Col. Chuck Yeager) at Edwards AFB, CA. Upon graduation he was assigned to the Fighter Test Branch at Edwards AFB where he flew numerous and varied flight tests on century series fighters. In 1963 Captain Engle was assigned as one of two Air Force test pilots to fly the X-15 Research Rocket aircraft. On 29 June 1965 he flew the X-15 to an altitude of 280,600 feet, and became the youngest pilot ever to qualify as an astronaut. Three of his sixteen flights in the X-15 exceeded the 50-mile (264,000 feet) altitude required for astronaut rating.

In March 1966, Engle was one of 19 pilots selected for NASA space missions. He was the back-up Lunar Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission, and was to fly to and walk on the moon on Apollo 17 until budget cuts canceled the last 3 planned Apollo flights.

From June through October 1977, General Engle was the commander of one of two crews that flew the initial Space Shuttle “Enterprise” Approach and Landing Test flights. The Space Shuttle was flown off the top of a modified Boeing 747 for a 2 ½ minute glide test flight from 20,000 feet to landing. On 12 Nov 1981, General Engle commanded the second orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle “Columbia”, launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL. On this flight he became the first and only pilot to manually fly an aerospace vehicle from Mach 25 to landing.

The general served as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight at NASA Headquarters from March to December 1982. He retained his flight astronaut status and returned to Johnson Space Center in January 1983. General Engle was Commander of Space Shuttle “Discovery” on flight 51-I which launched from Kennedy Space Center on 27 Aug 1985. The crew deployed three communications satellites, and performed a successful on-orbit rendezvous and manual repair of the disabled SYNCOM communications satellite. General Engle has flown over 185 different types of aircraft including 38 different fighter and attack aircraft. He has logged more than 14,700 flight hours – 9,900 in jets and over 224 hours in space. His military decorations include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster. He has also been awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal with device.^[6]

Other awards include the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Collier Trophy, the Goddard Space Trophy, the Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy, and the Kinchelow Experimental Test Pilot’s Trophy. In 1964, he was selected as the USAF Outstanding Young Officer of the Year. That same year he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. Later that year he was named Kansan of the Year. In 1982 he received the University of Kansas Distinguished Service Citation, (the highest honor the University of Kansas can bestow upon an individual), and that same year, he received the University of Kansas School of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Service Award.

He has been inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and in 2001 he was one of four aviation pioneers enshrined into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In his last active duty military assignment, General Engle was the Air National Guard Assistant to the Commander in Chief, United States Space Command and North American Air Defense Command, with Headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, CO. As “Test Pilot Emeritus” of the USAF Test Pilot School, he remains active in flying, including current jet fighter aircraft, and is also an avid outdoor sportsman and wildlife enthusiast.

Sources

1. ↑ "Missouri, Jackson County Marriage ," Ancestry.com.
2. ↑ Wikipedia List of Astronauts, 1954
3. ↑ Wikipedia List of Astronauts, 1966
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Agency Awards Historical Recipient List
5. ↑ Hall of Fame Bio
6. ↑ National Aeronautics and Space Administration Biographical Data Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

• Find A Grave: Memorial #272378195 accessed on 13 Jul 2024

• Wikipedia: Joe Engle

• Wikidata: Item Q374034, en:Wikipedia

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRV1-XM7 : accessed 10 December 2017), Joe H Engle in household of Abner Engle, Chapman, Noble Township, Dickinson, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 21-33, sheet 8B, line 59, family 192, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1228.

• "United States Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F7Y-PKML : Tue Mar 19 10:31:18 UTC 2024), Entry for Abner Engle and Margaret Engle, April 11, 1950. ED 21-39, Chapman, Dickinson, Kansas, United States.

• NASA Bio

• Ancestry Profile (lifetime sources as overall references and lifetime honors)

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213130/http://www.scouting.org/about/factsheets/scouting_space.aspx

• https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/engle_joe.pdf?emrc=ae0a1a

• Obituary, collectSpace

• Obituary, The Washington Post