Quiet supersonic X-59 jet soars over California desert in first test flight
by Steve Gorman
PALMDALE, Calif. (Reuters) – NASA’s supersonic but quiet jet soared over the Southern California desert on Tuesday in the first test flight of an experimental aircraft designed to break the sound barrier with little noise and pave the way for faster commercial air travel.
The sleek plane, built for NASA by aerospace contractor Lockheed Martin, took off about an hour after sunrise from the runway at Plant 42 of the company’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.
After a steep climb over grass fields just east of the runway, the aircraft was seen banking north toward Edwards Air Force Base, where it landed safely near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center about an hour later. He was escorted by a NASA chase plane.
The aircraft’s unique shape was designed to greatly reduce the explosive-like sonic boom normally produced when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, reducing the sound level to a muffled “sonic thud” no louder than slamming a car door.
According to Lockheed, perfecting such low-decibel flight technology aims to overcome one of the main obstacles to supersonic commercial flight, which has long been restricted in crowded areas on land due to noise concerns.
Measuring just under 100 feet from nose to tail, the single-engine X-59 flew at subsonic speeds as expected on its first test flight, reaching a top speed of 230 mph (370 km/h), according to Lockheed Martin. Its highest altitude during the flight was 12,000 feet (3,660 meters).
About 200 aviation workers and their families watched the takeoff from a safe distance, parked along a nearby highway.
“The X-59 successfully completed its maiden flight this morning,” Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Candis Roussel told Reuters in a brief email statement, hailing it as “a significant milestone in aviation.”
NASA’s lead X-59 test pilot Nils Larson was at the controls in the single-crew cockpit during the flight, Roussel said.
The X-59, a one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft, is built to reach a cruise speed of 925 mph (1,490 km/h), or Mach 1.4, at an altitude of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters), which is twice as high and nearly twice as fast as conventional aircraft fly, the company said.
The company said data from research with the X-59 will inform the development of new sound thresholds for supersonic flight over land.
The supersonic Concorde airliner began scheduled transatlantic flights with British Airways and Air France in 1976. However, following the fatal crash in July 2000 and the September 11 attacks in 2001, the aircraft was retired in 2003 due to high operating costs, limited seating, and slow passenger numbers.
In press materials posted online last month, NASA said the X-59’s first flight “will be a low-altitude loop at approximately 240 mph (386 km/h) to check systems integration and initiate a flight test phase focused on verifying the airworthiness and safety of the aircraft.”
During subsequent test flights, the X-59 would travel higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound—about 761 mph (1,225 km/h) at sea level.
The California Manufacturers and Technology Association named the X-59 the “Greatest Thing Made in California” of 2025 at its annual statewide technology competition earlier this month.
“This work continues America’s leadership in aviation and has the potential to change the way the public flies,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is also NASA administrator, said in a statement. he said.
(Reporting by David Swanson in Palmdale, Calif.; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Howard Goller)
