Arthur "Kit" Murray - Test Pilot

Arthur "Kit" Murray was one of the US Air Force test pilots immortalized in Tom Wolfe's 1979 book, "The Right Stuff". In 1954, he became the first person to fly 90,440 feet over the earth, subsequently seeing its curvature. He was considered America's first space pilot.

He died on July 25, 2011 at the age of 92 in a Texas nursing home. Many of his test flights, along with those of Chuck Yeager, laid the foundation for the American space program.

From 1958-1960, he was the flight manager of the X-15 program. One of his pilots, Neil Armstrong, flew the advanced rocket plane at an altitude of 100 kilometers, meeting the international definition of space flight. Armstrong would later become the first to walk on the moon.

Murray flew 50 combat missions during World War II before becoming a P-47 flight instructor. After becoming a test pilot, he was the first to be assigned to the base in California that would later be known as Edwards.