NASA’s Quiet Supersonic X-59 Continues Test Flights | NASA Armstrong

NASA’s Quiet Supersonic X-59 Continues Test Flights | NASA Armstrong

NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less is seen after completing his first flight of the X-59 and the aircraft’s second flight overall at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Thursday, March 26, 2026. 

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic jet can be seen flying over the Mojave Desert during its third flight on Thursday, March 26, 2026, from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The aircraft completed an approximate one-hour flight and provided the team with significant data for future flights.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft recently completed its first wheels-up flight. This transition marks a key milestone for the Quesst mission and an important step in the aircraft’s test campaign that aims to enable quiet commercial supersonic flight over land.

The X-59 aircraft builds on decades of supersonic flight research and is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission. The vast amount of data collected over the years has given designers the tools they needed to craft the shape of the X-59. The goal is to enable the aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds and reduce a loud sonic boom to a quieter “sonic thump.”

Data gathered during X-59 research flights will be shared with the U.S. and international regulators to inform the establishment of new, data-driven acceptable noise thresholds related to supersonic commercial flight over land.

The X-59’s engine, a modified F414-GE-100, packs 22,000 pounds of thrust. This will enable the X-59 to achieve the desired cruising speed of Mach 1.4 (925 miles per hour) at an altitude of approximately 55,000 feet. It sits in a nontraditional spot–atop the aircraft—to aid in making the X-59 quieter.

The X-59's goal is to help change existing national and international aviation rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land.

For more information about the X-59 and NASA's Quesst mission, visit www.nasa.gov/quesst

Image Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas/Ryan Kline/Jim Ross
Date: March 26, 2026

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