Chuck Yeager

On October 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. Yeager piloted the rocket-powered Bell X-1 to a speed of Mach 1.07, becoming the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. In order to reach its testing altitude, the X-1 was air-launched through the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 Super Fortress, and then used its four-chambered rocket engine to climb to 43,000 feet, exceeding 660 miles per hour. Chuck Yeager, who was later immortalized in the film "The Right Stuff," died last night at the age of 97.