US EditionQuiet supersonic X-59 jet soars over California desert in first test flight
The X-59 jet aims to reduce sonic booms to a quiet thud, potentially enabling supersonic commercial flights over land and cutting travel times in half, NASA and Lockheed Martin said.
- On October 28, 2025, NASA and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works flew the X-59 from Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, with Nils Larson validating its airworthiness before landing near NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.
- Decades of restrictions on supersonic flight stem from the U.S. regulatory ban on supersonic flights over land since 1973, prompting NASA and Lockheed Martin to develop the X-59 Quesst demonstrator to enable quieter flight and potential regulatory change.
- The X-59's design features include a long nose, top-mounted engine, and a 99.7-foot prototype airframe; the maiden test stayed subsonic, reaching 230 mph with a peak altitude of 12,000 feet.
- Planned tests in the coming months will have Lockheed Martin Skunk Works lead supersonic runs and NASA collect community response data over flight corridors.
- If the program succeeds, new low-boom jets could roughly halve travel time between New York City and Los Angeles, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this work sustains America's aviation leadership.
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With an investment of $518 million since 2018, X-59 promises to revolutionize commercial aviation by flying to Mach 1.4 without generating sonic stampede
The Independent
The Independent (US)Could a new supersonic jet save you travel time? NASA just ran its first test flight
The jet performed ‘exactly as planned’ during its test flight over California
In view of the improved successor of supersonic aviation, the X-59 aircraft survived the California desert for the first time. For NASA, "X-59 is a symbol of American skill".
Supersonic travel could return – without the boom – as NASA tests X-59 jet
NASA's experimental X-59 supersonic jet recently completed its first test flight after years of development and delays. Aeronautical engineers at Lockheed Martin designed the aircraft to produce quiet sonic booms, potentially allowing supersonic flight over land and cutting travel times in half.Read Entire Article
997wpro.com
NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Jet Takes First Flight
NASA and Lockheed Martin’s experimental X-59 jet completed its first test flight Tuesday, Oct. 28, a milestone in the agency’s effort to prove that passenger aircraft can fly faster than sound without the window-rattling sonic booms that have long kept supersonic travel off U.S. routes over land. Piloted by NASA’s Nils Larson, the sleek, single-seat X-plane departed Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale and landed at NASA’s Armstron…
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