Mr. Wolfe wrote of how a plane at supersonic speed and high altitude could “skid into a flat spin like a cereal bowl on a Formica counter.” That left a pilot only one question, he added: “What do I do next?”  That was exactly the experience Mr. Murray described in The Saturday Evening Post in 1955, an experience he shared with the legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager, who flew a chase plane behind Major Murray when he broke the altitude record.  Mr. Yeager started the space race when be broke the sound barrier on Oct. 14, 1947. In 1957, the Soviet Union would put the first satellite in orbit, and in 1961 it sent the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin, who orbited the world. Alan B. Shepard Jr., a test pilot, became the first American in space in 1961. The next year, John Glenn, another test pilot, was the first orbiting American.  Major Murray’s many test flights, including 14 in the Bell X-1A, helped build the foundation for America’s exploration of the heavens. He further contributed as manager of the Air Force’s program to develop the X-15, a more advanced rocket plane, from 1958 to 1960. Two X-15 flights exceeded 100 kilometers in altitude (or 328,084 feet), meeting the international definition of space flight.  One of Major Murray’s test pilots in the X-15 program was Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.  Arthur Warren Murray was born in Cresson, Pa., on Dec. 26, 1918, and joined the Army as a cavalry soldier in 1939. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, he volunteered for flight training. He flew more than 50 combat missions in a P-40 fighter in World War II, before returning to the United States to be a P-47 flight instructor. He became a test pilot, the first one assigned to the base that was later named Edwards. He tested the Bell X-1A, X-1B, X-4 and X-5.  Mr. Murray retired from the Air Force in 1961 as a colonel and worked for Boeing and Bell Helicopter. He later worked for a Texas company that leased hunting land and as a civil servant for the City of Dallas. He lived in Clifton, Tex., for about 20 years.  Mr. Murray’s first marriage, to Elizabeth Ann Strelic, ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, the former Ann Humphreys; five sons; a daughter; three stepdaughters; 16 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; and a step-great-grandchild.  The last thing Mr. Murray’s wife told him before he left for the edge of outer space was to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home. He remembered.  A version of this article appears in print on August 5, 2011, on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Arthur Murray, Test Pilot, Is Dead at 92. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
In 1954, Mr. Murray, known as Kit, of the Air Force guided a Bell X-1A plane higher than any human being had ever been, 90,440 feet over the earth.