The X-15 has been featured in numerous productions in both movies and television for decades. This continues even today, more than half a century after the rocket plane's final mission.

The films and television shows featured on this page are listed in chronological order of their original release dates.

— "Battle in Outer Space" 1959 —

all photos, posters, and lobby cards this page courtesy author's collection (unless otherwise noted)

Lobby Card featuring several X-15s in various configurations in the upper right.

"Uchu Diasenso" was released as "Battle in Outer Space" in America in 1960.

Squadrons of X-15s from "Battle in Outer Space."

A squadron of gold X-15s with truncated delta wings, launch on an intercept mission.

Close-up on the gantry-launched X-15s.

The radar dish that tracks the aliens, and guides the launch of the X-15 squadrons.

Silo-launched X-15s. Note the cool silver paint job with the red racing stripes.

The last X-15 off the launch pad.

Heading after the evil aliens bent on the overthrow of Earth.

The X-15's Q-Ball has been replace with a death ray!

The X-15 dodging alien laser beams in space.

Two variations of X-15 models used as space fighters in the movie. One is fairly close to the standard profile of the X-15, but with large wingtip pods, while the other has a set of large, truncated delta wings.

One of the X-15 space fighter models compared to the Moon landers that were used to chase the aliens to the lunar surface.

— "My Favorite Martian" (season 1 episode 1: "My Favorite Martian") 29 September 1963 —

For three seasons reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby) of the Los Angeles Sun hid a secret that his "Uncle Martin" (Ray Walston) was actually a man from Mars. Martin was stranded on Earth during a reconnaissance mission when an X-15 rocket plane nearly ran him over high in the atmosphere during a test flight. Martin's ship careened out of control and crashed. Tim was at Edwards AFB to cover the X-15 mission, and saw Martin's ship crash in the woods on his way home. He rescued Martin from being found by the government authorities. Tim and Martin then shared adventures in invisibility, time travel, and many more as they tried to fix Martin's ship and get him safely home.

View from the ground as the X-15 is launched. Note the shadow of the B-52's wing on the contrail of the X-15.

X-15 no. 1 drops from the B-52's wing pylon during the opening sequence of the pilot episode of "My Favorite Martian."

The LR-99 rocket engine ignites, and the pilot pulls away to start his mission.

Tim O'Hara finds the crashed Martian spaceship.

Banner headlines from the Los Angeles Sun for the X-15 flight, and the test pilot's run-in with a UFO from the Red Planet.

The subhead talks of Uncle Martin's spaceship doing 9,000 mph, but look at the first sentence proclaiming that the X-15 set a new speed record of 48,594 mph!

— "The Outer Limits" (season 2 episode 16: "The Premonition") 9 January 1965 —

In "The Outer Limits" episode "The Premonition" X-15 pilot Jim Darcy crash lands the rocket plane. Jim then discovers that he and his wife Linda are compressed in time where each second lasts 30 minutes. They find that this slowing in time allows them to save their daughter who is about to be hit by a runaway truck.

Jim Darcy (Dewey Martin) and his wife Linda (Mary Murphy) realize they are stuck in time, and have to find a way to save their daughter, Janie (Emma Tyson) in the penultimate episode of "The Outer Limits."

— "The Glass Bottom Boat" 1966 —

Early in "The Glass Bottom Boat" Zack Molloy (Dick Martin covered in dust on the left), enters Bruce Templeton's (Rod Taylor) office to complain about new hire Jennifer Nelson (Doris Day). Is she a Russian agent infiltrating Templeton's aerospace business to get the secret of anti-gravity?

Note the X-15 model just below Zack's right hand at the bottom of the frame.

Close-up of the X-15 Topping model on Bruce Templeton's desk.

— "2001: A Space Odyssey" 1968 —

The X-15 appears in the classic motion picture "2001: A Space Odyssey." (1968)

Dennis Gilliam collection

Detail of photo at left showing the modified X-15 model on the shelf behind the actors.

Dennis Gilliam collection

— "The Invaders" 16 January 1968 and "Search" 22 November 1972 —

"Search" is a little known series that only lasted one season. It involves a company called World Securities Corporation, which is hired to track down people around the world. In "Flight To Nowhere" (episode 10) there are two connections to the X-15. First is literally the same photo on the wall as seen in "The Invaders" (as shown by the identical frame and matting). Second is that scenes were shot at Cuddeback Lake where a friend of Hugh Lockwood (Hugh O'Brian, left) went missing.

In "The Invaders" architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) knows aliens are here and attempting to take over Earth, but he finds it hard to convince others of the truth. In "The Pit" (season 2, episode 19) the X-15 is seen on the wall of a child's room.

— "The President's Plane is Missing" TV movie 23 October 1973 —

Robert J. Serling wrote the best selling novel "The President's Plane Is Missing." It centered on the crash of Air Force One, and a missing President of the United States (his body was not in the wreckage). It was made into an ABC Movie of the Week in 1971 starring Peter Graves and Buddy Ebsen. However, its release was held up for more than two years because of President Richard Nixon's ongoing real life negotiations with China.

International News reporter Mark Jones (Peter Graves) enters the office of Gen. Dunbar (James Wainwright) to discuss the crash of Air Force One. Interestingly, Jones decides to stop and touch the X-15 Topping model before sitting to talk.

— "The Astronaut Farmer" 2006 —

Billy Bob Thornton was a former X-15 pilot in "The Astronaut Farmer."

This photo was originally of Neil Armstrong, then the production company replaced Neil's head with Billy Bob's.

I re-created the composite, and believe the head is more realistic than the one used in the movie. I printed two copies of my composite and took them with me

when I interviewed Mr. Thornton on the movie's release. He accepted a copy for himself and signed the other for me, which was very gracious of him to do.

composite photo by Michelle Evans

— "Star Trek: Into Darkness" 2013 —

At left, Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) in "Star Trek: Into Darkness." with Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) in the background. In the extreme foreground, along with the Spirit of St. Louis and a V-2 rocket, is an X-15A-2. The model was constructed by Quantum Mechanix. Above, a close-up of the model.

— "First Man" 2018 —

The X-15 mockup is set up on Rosamond Dry Lake to re-create Neil's landing.at the extreme southern edge of Rogers Dry Lake at the end of flight 3-4-8 on 20 April 1962

Poster for the movie "First Man." This biopic of Neil Armstrong focuses primarily on three missions for NASA that Neil accomplished: His sixth flight of the X-15 on 20 April 1962, Gemini 8 on 16 March 1966, and Apollo 11 between 16 to 24 July 1969. Although based on the excellent book by James Hansen, the film failed on almost every level. Even though prior to release it was considered a major Oscar contender, it also failed at the box office and with audiences. One primary reason were the numerous factual errors and exaggerations that riddled the movie, along with making Neil into a dour and depressed person that was completely unlikeable.

Looking back at Earth as Neil flies above the atmosphere. The movie shows a peak altitude of 140,000 feet when in reality Neil topped out this flight at 207,500 feet.

Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) at the controls of X-15 no. 3.

Real X-15 pilot Joe Engle was one of several technical advisors on the film (myself included). Unfortunately the technical advise did not translate to the finished film

Neil poses with the X-15 after landing.

— "Project Blue Book" 4 February 2020 —

In the History channel series "Project Blue Book" the second season's third episode (titled "Area 51" ) the two lead characters follow a clue that takes them to the infamous Area 51 in Nevada. Their guide takes them into a classified hangar where they see various unusual aircraft, including the Northrop YB-49 flying wing, the Douglas X-3 Stiletto, the Convair XFY Pogo, and the North American Aviation X-15.

When I took this screen shot, my framed X-15 patch that hangs above our television showed up, making it appear to be on the hangar wall behind the X-15 in Area 51!

Enlargement showing the X-3 and X-15 inside the secret Area 51 hangar.

Close-ups of the X-15 shows that there are few markings. However, the tail number and elliptical cockpit windows identify this as being the X-15A-2.

— "Cosmos: Possible Worlds" March/April 2020 —

The third season of Cosmos was subtitled "Possible Worlds" and featured 13 truly excellent episodes. Amazingly, the X-15 appeared in two of those:

Ep 8: The Sacrifice of Cassini (30 March)

Ep 13: Seven Wonders of the New World (20 April)

In the two screen captures from "The Sacrifice of Cassini" above an anonymous NASA scientist is working on the problem of how to get astronauts safely to the Moon and back during the Apollo program. On the bookshelf behind him is a model of the X-15. In a third scene at left, the tail of the X-15 model can be clearly seen. The episode featured the story of Yuri Vasyljevych Kondratyuk (born Aleksandr Ignatyevich Shargei) and his idea of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, which made the Apollo landings possible.

On the right is a screen capture from "Seven Wonders of the New World" that featured video of the entrance to the United States Space Park at the 1964 New York World's Fair. with the X-15 on prominent display. The episode looks back at both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, then jumps ahead to a possible 2039 World's Fair, featuring footage of host Neil deGrasse Tyson at the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain.

You can see more about the X-15 at the 1964 Fair on the X-15 Mockups page.