NASA X-59

NASA’s X-59 research aircraft moves from its construction site to the flight line – or the space between the hangar and the runway – at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.

 

This milestone on June 16, 2023, kicks off a series of ground tests to ensure the X-59 is safe and ready to fly.

The X-59 is designed to fly faster than Mach 1 while reducing the resulting sonic boom to a thump for people on the ground. NASA will evaluate this technology during flight tests as part of the agency’s Quesst mission, which helps enable commercial supersonic air travel over land.

Text Credit: Amiee Lomax
Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
Editor: Monika Luabeya