Someone fixed the X-15 FDM, so now the engines actually start. Time to seriously test the high-altitude visibility modes of Local Weather.
Just after release from the carrier at around 36.000 ft:
After igniting the rocket engine, initiating a climb for a high-altitude flight profile.
The climbing angle is quite steep, I am aiming for some serious altitude:
Still under thrust, passing 85.000 ft where the Blackbird is at home:
Earth is slowly vanishing - there's some culling operation in place which prevents to get more view range than that.
Flying ballistic, the top of the arc is reached at 270.000 ft. Not much to see of the terrain from that altitude, but the atmosphere effects are nice - we're clearly in space at this point. Aircraft doesn't react to anything I do.
So now comes the tricky part - I am basically falling down from 270.000 ft and there won't be much control till below 100.000, so it's simply down to trying to stabilize the aircraft as soon as possible:
After some very exciting maneuvers, we're back at around 30.000 ft gliding over Edwards AFB - nice and long runway for us. The X-15 glides like a brick, so we lose altitude rapidly and come in fast.
And prepared for touchdown with about 240 kt airspeed at this point. Without a braking chute, a very long runway is just what we need
Not quite the Vostok, but I think 270.000 ft are quite decent, and the seamless transition in and out of the atmosphere is quite something. Here's a plane worth spending some more work with (3d cockpit,...) - the environment can keep up!