Bill Dana ( pilot ) William Harvey " Bill " Dana is a retired NASA test pilot and astronaut . Career . Dana was born in Pasadena , California on November 3 , 1930 . He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy in 1952 and served four years as a pilot in the United States Air Force . He joined NASA after receiving a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1958 . NASA . Dana was Chief Engineer at NASA ' s Dryden Flight Research Center , Edwards Air Force Base , California , from 1993 until 1998 , when he retired after almost 40 years of distinguished service to NASA . Formerly an aerospace research pilot , Dana flew the F - 100 variable stability research aircraft and the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration / F - 16 aircraft as well as many others . Before his assignment as Chief Engineer , he was Assistant Chief of the Flight Operations Division , a position he assumed after serving since 1986 as Chief Pilot . He was also a project pilot on the F - 15 HIDEC ( Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control ) research program , and a co - project pilot on the F - 18 High Angle of Attack research program . As a research pilot , Dana was involved in some of the most significant aeronautical programs carried out at Dryden . For his service as a flight research pilot , he received NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1997 . In 2000 he was awarded the Milton O . Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dryden Flight Research Center . From 1960 through 1962 he was a pilot astronaut in the U . S . Air Force X - 20 Dyna - Soar program . Dana was a project pilot on the hypersonic North American X - 15 research aircraft and flew the rocket - powered vehicle 16 times , reaching a top speed of 3 , 897 mph . His peak altitude of 307 , 000 feet ( nearly 59 miles high ) technically qualified him for the Astronaut Badge , although he was not formally recognized as an astronaut until 2005 . He was the pilot on the final ( 199th ) flight of the 10 - year program . In the late 1960s and in the 1970s , Dana was a project pilot on the manned lifting body program , which flew several versions of the wingless vehicles and produced data that helped in development of the Space Shuttle . He completed one NASA M2 - F1 , nine Northrop HL - 10 , nineteen Northrop M2 - F3 and two Martin Marietta X - 24B flights , for a total of 31 lifting body missions . Personal life . Dana has been married to Judi Dana since 1962 . Together they have raised four children , Sidney , Matt , Janet ( Jan ) , and Leslie ( Cricket ) ; they have seven grandchildren . He now lives in Phoenix , Arizona . Honors . For his contributions to the lifting body program , Dana received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal . In 1976 he received the Haley Space Flight Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ( AIAA ) for his research work on the M2 - F3 lifting body control systems . A member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots , Dana is the author of several technical papers . In 1993 , he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor . On 23 August 2005 , NASA officially conferred on Dana his astronaut ' s wings .