John Barron McKay (December 8, 1922 – April 27, 1975) was an American naval officer, World War II pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA. On September 28, 1965, he flew the X-15 to an altitude of , thereby qualifying as an astronaut according to the United States definition of the boundary of space. However, this altitude did not surpass the Kármán line as defined by the FAI, the FAI-accepted boundary of . On November 9, 1962, McKay was injured when forced to make an emergency landing in the X-15-2, the second of three planes in the X-15 fleet. The craft rolled over, and McKay suffered crushed vertebrae. Subsequently, the damaged plane was refurbished to become the X-15A-2, a modified variant. Although McKay returned to flight as an X-15 pilot, his injuries contributed to an early death. He died on April 27, 1975, aged 52. Early life and education Born on December 8, 1922, in Portsmouth, Virginia, to parents Milton Barron McKay (1895–1974) and Wilhelmina Emaline McKay (; 1885–1970). During World War II he served as a Naval Aviator in the Pacific Theater, earning the Air Medal with two clusters, and a Presidential Unit Citation. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He was married and had eight children. Test pilot McKay worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor, NASA, from February 8, 1951, until October 5, 1971, and specialized in high-speed flight research programs. He began as an NACA intern, but assumed pilot status on July 11, 1952. In addition to the X-15, he flew such experimental aircraft as the D-558-1, D-558-2, X-lB, and the X-lE. He has also served as a research pilot on flight programs involving the F-100, F-102, F-104 and the F-107. In 1958, McKay was selected for and would have participated in the U.S. Air Force's Man In Space Soonest program, had it come to fruition. McKay wrote several technical papers, and was a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Accident On 9 November 1962, McKay undertook Flight 74 of the X-15 program on the X-15 56-6671 which was the Number-Two X-15 on