NASA's supersonic yet quiet X-59 jet soared through the Southern California desert on its first test flight this Tuesday (October 28, 2025), marking a key step toward faster, quieter commercial air travel.

The aircraft, developed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, took off shortly after dawn from the Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles. After a steep climb, the X-59 headed toward Edwards Air Force Base, where it landed safely an hour later, escorted by a NASA chase plane.

Revolutionary Technology for Supersonic Flight

The aircraft's unique shape is designed to greatly reduce the explosive sonic boom that normally occurs when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, reducing the volume to a muffled "sonic bang" no louder than slamming a car door.

The refinement of this low-decibel flight technology aims to overcome one of the major obstacles to supersonic commercial flight, which has long been restricted over populated areas on land due to noise concerns, according to Lockheed.

Getting the aircraft from paper to air was not cheap.

NASA has paid Lockheed Martin more than $518 million since 2018 to develop and demonstrate the X-59, according to agency contracting data. X-59 Technical Specifications and Performance The X-59, a single-engine jet nearly 30 meters long, reached subsonic speeds of up to 230 mph (370 km/h) and a maximum altitude of 12,000 feet (3,660 m) on its first flight, according to Lockheed Martin. About 200 people—aerospace workers and their families—witnessed the takeoff from a nearby road. “The X-59 successfully completed its first flight this morning,” Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Candis Roussel told Reuters, calling it a “significant milestone in aviation.” NASA test pilot Nils Larson was at the controls during the test.

The X-59,A unique experimental aircraft, it is designed to fly at 925 mph (1,490 km/h), or Mach 1.4, at 55,000 feet (16,764 m), more than twice as high and almost twice as fast as a commercial airliner, according to Lockheed Martin. The data obtained will serve to establish new noise standards for supersonic flights over land.

The Future of Supersonic Aviation After Concorde

Its development seeks to surpass the legacy of the Concorde, which began scheduled transatlantic flights with British Airways and Air France in 1976. But the aircraft was retired in 2003 due to high operating costs, limited seating, and slow passenger numbers after a fatal crash in July 2000 and the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In this first phase, the X-59 flew at low altitude and speed to verify systems and safety, before moving on to tests that will take it to break the sound barrier.

“This work maintains America’s place as a leader in aviation and has the potential to change the "the way the public flies," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is also acting NASA administrator, in a statement.

FEW (Reuters, Lockheed Martin)