* Milt Thompson; Engineer and X-15 Test Pilot

Milt Thompson, a test pilot who flew the X-15, died Friday morning in Lancaster. He was 67.

Thompson, one of just 12 pilots to fly the famed rocket-powered aircraft as well as other research planes in the late 1950s and 1960s, was chief engineer of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, a position he held since 1975.

Thompson’s career with NASA began in 1956, when the agency was still known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

Thompson was to be honored at a dinner Friday night in Lancaster for his many contributions to NASA, Dryden and aerospace. Dryden employees had been planning the event for months.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin issued a statement Friday saying that his agency had planned at the dinner to bestow on Thompson its Distinguished Service Medal, the agency’s highest award, and its Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal.

Thompson had earlier received a Distinguished Service Medal from NASA for his work in the 1970s as a member of the agency’s Space Transportation System Technology Steering Committee.

Goldin described Thompson as “one of America’s true aviation pioneers and a genuine national hero.”

“During his long and distinguished career he literally helped lead the way from our first faltering steps in space through the successful flights of the space shuttle. He significantly enhanced not only the nation’s flight testing and research programs but also our capability to conduct flight research,” Goldin said.

Thompson was the first person to fly a lifting body, a wingless vehicle that provided data that helped in the development of the space shuttle.

During his 14 flights piloting the X-15, Thompson reached a top speed of 3,723 m.p.h. and a maximum altitude of 214,100 feet. Thompson once said a scientist told him he was the world’s only mesonaut, flying in, but not above, the earth’s mesosphere, the portion of the atmosphere between 154,000 and 260,000 feet.

Thompson stopped his active flying career in 1968 and became research projects director at Dryden. In 1975, he was named chief engineer, a position he held until his death.

Thompson, a native of Crookston, Minn., had a flying career that began at 19 when he was a pilot trainee with the Navy. He served during World War II.

Thompson came to Dryden in 1956 as an engineer. In 1958, he began his 10-year stint as a research pilot.

He recently co-wrote “The Edge of Space,” a book about the X-15 program. Thompson kept cases of the book in his Dryden office and would readily sign them for NASA employees and contractors.

A member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Thompson’s contributions were recognized by numerous aerospace organizations. In 1990, he received NASA’s Elder Statesman of Aviation award.

Thompson is survived by five children.

Funeral services are pending.