The Engle Collection

Few people have witnessed the entire saga of human spaceflight — Joe Engle is one of those people. Engle’s aviation experience began in a fabric-covered biplane and went on into the jet age. Before long, he was using those stick-and-rudder skills at the edge of space and into low Earth orbit.

The youngest person selected to become an astronaut and the first person to pilot two different winged vehicles into space, Engle has gone from Cessnas to Super Sabres to the space shuttle. The Engle Collection features artifacts from Engle’s personal and professional journey to the edge of space and beyond.

Joe Engle is a member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, having been inducted into both in 2001. His personal archives coming to EAA include memorabilia from his careers in NASA as well as the U.S. Air Force, where he participated in both the USAF Test Pilot School and the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Engle was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966, and served as support crew and capcom for Apollo 10 and backup lunar module pilot and capcom for Apollo 14.

Engle later commanded space shuttle approach and test flights in 1977 and served as commander of the second space shuttle flight, STS-2, in 1981 and the STS-51I shuttle flight of the shuttle Discovery in 1985.

Jeanie Engle has an impressive NASA career as well, having served as the Johnson Space Center’s Chief Knowledge Officer for eight of her more than 30 years there. She also served as Johnson Space Center’s Chief Information Officer and Deputy IT Security Manager during her career.