NASA achieved with its experimental plane X-59 a key advance for the airline industrywhen exceeding the speed of sound for the first time and taking another step in exploration to resume the supersonic flights. The detail is that it was done without the classic sound stampede of the Concorde, the project that tries to resume the X-59 and that ended in 2003 three years after the tragedy of Air France flight 4590.
According to NASA’s announcement, the aircraft took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and reached an approximate maximum speed of 1,147 kilometers per hour and an altitude of 43,400 feet (13,228 meters) during an 81-minute flight that began at 11:08 local time, NASA said in a statement.
During the flight, in which NASA test pilot Jim ‘Clue’ Less was at the controls, «the team focused on flight qualities at subsonic and then supersonic speeds,» the space agency said in a statement.
The X-59 is an experimental aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier without the characteristic sonic boom.
This was one of the main obstacles that forced the withdrawal of the Concordea commercial flight that was operational between 1976 and 2003 that was capable of exceeding 2,000 kilometers per hour and connected London or Paris with New York in three and a half hours.
✈️ JUST IN: The X-59 has gone supersonic!
The X-59 achieved supersonic speeds for the first time ever today — a major milestone for NASA’s Quesst mission and an important step toward upcoming flights that will demonstrate its quiet supersonic technology ahead of future… pic.twitter.com/mwblICs4vN
— NASA Aeronautics (@NASAaero) June 5, 2026
However, the noise generated by exceeding the speed of sound led many countries to ban supersonic flights over their territories. The compression of sound waves when the plane exceeds the speed of sound is what causes the sonic boom.
Mach 1.4: NASA’s next step toward commercial supersonic flights
The first flight of the X-59 took place last October and, according to NASA, it is expected to be able to demonstrate its silent supersonic capabilities later this year.
«In the coming days, we hope to take the next step and reach Mach 1.4 (between 1,500 and 1,700 km/h),» said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
To see how big the sonic boom generated by the plane was, a NASA F-15 aircraft flew nearby.
The main feature of the
The special design of the nose of the
With information from EFE
