William J. "Pete" Knight was a combat pilot, test pilot, astronaut, and U.S. politician who enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951 and began serving as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in 1958. He worked on the F-100, F-101, F-104, T-38, and F-5 test programs, completed astronaut training at Edwards in 1963, and was selected to fly the X-15. On October 3, 1967, he set a world speed record for a winged powered aircraft by flying the X-15A-2 at 4,520 miles per hour, or Mach 6.7, a record that still stands. In 16 flights in the aircraft, he also became one of only five pilots to earn astronaut’s wings by flying an airplane in space, reaching an altitude of 280,500 feet. After 32 years of service and more than 6,000 flight hours in more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the U.S.A.F. as a colonel in 1982. He was then elected to the Palmdale City Council in 1984, became the city’s first elected mayor four years later, was elected to the California State Assembly in 1992 representing the 36th District, and served in the State Senate for the 17th District from 1996 until his death on May 8, 2004.