Maj. Gen. Joe Henry Engle

Maj. Gen. Joe Henry Engle (USAF, ANG RET), 91, passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, the 10th of July 2024, surrounded by his loving family in Houston, Texas. Joe Henry was born in Abilene, Kansas on the 26th of August 1932, to Abner and Margaret Engle and raised in Chapman, Kansas. He was the last surviving X-15 pilot and the only astronaut to pilot both the X-15 and the Space Shuttle.

Joe Henry attended his beloved University of Kansas, graduating in 1955 with an aeronautical engineering degree. He received his commission through the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Course and after earning his pilots wings, Joe Henry flew the F-100 Super Sabre with the 474th Fighter Day Squadron and the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base, Victorville, California. After attending the United States Air Force (USAF) Test Pilot School and Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, he was selected as a test pilot in the X-15 research program. He went on to fly the X-15 sixteen times, becoming an astronaut at age 32 flying the X-15 on the 29th of June 1965.

After selection by NASA in 1966, Joe Henry spent the next 20 years supporting the nation’s space program beginning with the Apollo program serving as a CAPCOM, crew member of the 2TV-1 thermo-vacuum test, support crew for Apollo 10, and backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14, before becoming involved in the development of the Space Shuttle. In 1977, he commanded two Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests before commanding two orbital space flights, Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-2, in 1981 and Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-51I, in 1985. It was during STS-2 that Joe Henry manually flew the Space Shuttle vehicle from Mach 25 to landing, the first and only pilot to do so.

After retirement from the USAF, Joe Henry served in the Air National Guard as an assistant to the commander in chief of the US Space Command and NORAD. For over twenty-five years, he was a critical part of the General Thomas P. Stafford Task Force and NASA ISS Advisory Committee, providing joint recommendations to NASA and Roscosmos leadership to foster international space cooperation.

Joe Henry flew more than 180 different aircraft types and logged more than 14,000 flight hours. His military and civilian decorations include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and Space Flight Medal, the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Collier Trophy, the Goddard Space Trophy, the Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy, and the Kinchelow Experimental Test Pilot’s Trophy. Joe Henry was bestowed with many honors throughout his life, including his 2001 enshrinement in the National Aviation Hall of Fame and a permanent exhibit of his life at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 2021.

Outside of flying, Joe Henry was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying many years of hunting. His fondest memories are the various hunts he shared with dear friends and family.

He is preceded in death by his first wife Mary Catherine Lawrence; parents, Abner and Margaret Engle; and sisters, Betty Ann Poland and Jane Engle Smith. He is survived by his wife Jeanie Engle; children Laurie Rasty and husband Jahan; Jon Engle and wife Karen; Katharine Carter Garczynski and husband Brandon; grandchildren Sarah Kate Rasty and Cameron Rasty; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Our family would like to give special thanks to the following individuals for their exceptional support and care of Joe Henry during the past few years: Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Josef Schmid III, Luz Yera, and Dr. Sherry Lemley.

A funeral service is to be conducted at one o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 18th of July, at House of Prayer Lutheran Church, 14045 Space Center Boulevard in Houston, where Eric Youngdahl, Senior Pastor, will officiate. For those unable to attend the service in-person, virtual attendance may be accessed by visiting Joe Henry’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com and selecting the “Join Livestream” icon on the service section. While there, you may also share fond memories and words of comfort and condolences with his family by selecting the “Add a Memory” icon.

At a later date, Maj. Gen. Engle will be interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, under the direction of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to the EAA Aviation Foundation, P. O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903 or the National Aviation Hall of Fame, P. O. Box 31096, Dayton, OH 45437