We all pretty welll remember that Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969, writes Brian Byrne.
And maybe we also know that he was the first US civilian to do a spacewalk. But what was he the first to do some years earlier in 1961?
Well, he broke a new air speed record flying the Bell X-15 rocket plane, achieving a velocity in excess of six times the speed of sound.
Armstrong is now aged 81, with a lot of unique memories which will never be made again. He's pictured above with the X-15.
Travel of a completely different kind, yes?
