First off, pilots in most fighter aircraft already wear breathing equipment at all times during flight, because of the altitudes they can reach. And secondly, no jet aircraft can reach space, since they are powered with air-breathing engines. If there is no oxygen to burn or too little to maintain proper combustion, the engines will shut down.

Supposedly an 15 has gone to the limit of the earth's atmosphere to the rim of space, but not above. It is theoritically possible to fly the fighter to the edge of the earth's atmosphere, and then using booster rockets attacked to the plane, break above the upper atmospheric boundaries into space. The biggest obstacle to over come would be the effects of friction when you return into the atmosphere. You would need an enormous amount of fuel to maintain a slow re-entry into the earth's atmosphere without any heat shielf on the plane. Theoritically it is possible, but in practice, it would not be practical...

The oxygen mask covers but one of many problems you would encounter. Firstly you'd have to reach space. The highest altitude reached by an F-15 was 102,900 feet by an F-15A, named 'Streak Eagle'. It was stripped of all paint and unnecessary weight, and took off with just 2,600lbs of fuel on board. The jet was bolted to the runway by a chain, and run up to full afterburner. An explosive charge severed the chain from the jet, and it took off. At around 65,000 feet the afterburners flamed out, and at 102,000 feet the engines themselves stalled from lack of air. The aircraft peaked at 102,900 feet, then began a glide back to earth. The pilot started the engines again once below 65,000 feet, and cruised back in for a landing. Look at www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/outdoor/od12.htm for more information. Secondly, the human body needs ambient air pressure around it. While the cabin of an F-15 is pressurised, the pressurisation equipment needs air to pump into the cabin. At high altitudes there would not be enough air to keep cabin pressure, since it is not sealed. Pressure leaks out slowly through joins in the skin, as well as valves that let air out. These valves are what control cabin pressure, not the intake system. The pilot would suffer severe effects from depressurisation, even if he/she had oxygen to breathe. They would not be able to maneouvre in space, since there is no air for the control surfaces to act upon. You'd have to attach maneouvring rockets to the plane. Finally, how are they going to get back? If they are in orbit, then maybe their speed would decay enough that their orbit would decay, and the aircraft would begin to re-enter the atmosphere. The plane is not designed to handle the speeds reached during re-entry. It would burn up.

No it cannot because there wouldnt be sufficient oxygen necessary to power the engines.

The answer to the question is 'No'. As most answers have addressed the issue that the F-15 would require engines capable of sustaining burn in the absence of atmosphere, it's not possible for an un-altered F-15 to break free of the bounds into space and, no, not even inertia can overcome as the loss of propulsion would occur at an extreme distance from space itself, giving gravity plenty of time to win out. The F-15 'could' become a space craft 'if' the cabin were sealed, 'if' the jet engines were replaced by something similar to what was proposed in Project Daedalus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus)... essentially an 'impulse engine' of modern scale. As well, the F-15 would require thrusting ports installed front, aft, sides, top and bottom to allow maneuverability in the absence of atmosphere. The extra thrust would allow for heavier plating to protect the F-15 from space debris but it would still require ceramic to allow for a cool re-entry for the pilot. Something not yet mentioned is the fact that there would have to be cabin heat, so some of the heat radiation would have to be transferred from the engines to the cabin. So, nope. The current F-15 could never achieve space even if the pilot were suicidal enough to want to. It's nice to dream, though. :)

There's no way any plane can go to the outer space.. @ rjtries thats just impossible. the space shuttle throttles at around mach 27 just before it gets into orbit. an F-15 can't go that fast because its a mach 2.5 (at high altitudes) plane.. even if someone was insane enough to strap on high powered thrusters, the stresses on the chassis of the plane will tear up the plane. and as almost everyone says, the engines need loads of oxygen for combustion.