Quiet Supersonic Future
NASA X-59 Quesst Completes First Supersonic Flight, Targets Quiet Sonic Boom Breakthrough
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NASA’s X-59 Quesst experimental aircraft completed its first supersonic flight on June 5 at Edwards Air Force Base, reaching about Mach 1.1 (roughly 43,400 feet) during an 81-minute test mission. The Quesst effort is designed to show that aircraft can fly faster than sound without the disruptive sonic boom that has kept routine commercial supersonic travel over land largely banned. Engineers say the X-59’s elongated, carefully shaped airframe disperses shock waves so the noise is expected to be closer to a quiet thump rather than a loud boom, and the aircraft also relies on an external vision system to compensate for a lack of forward windows. NASA noted that an F-15 chase aircraft generated its own sound during the test, meaning the milestone focused on flight performance rather than acoustic measurement. NASA’s team is now preparing for higher-speed flights soon, including plans to push toward about Mach 1.4 and higher altitudes that would be used in later community overflight campaigns. The milestone culminates months of expanding flight envelopes and validating key systems as the project transitions from subsonic checks into sustained supersonic operations.
Key Points
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NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less flew the June 5 mission, reaching about Mach 1.1 at 43,400 feet during an 81-minute flight from Edwards Air Force Base.
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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the program has built momentum since X-59’s first flight on Oct. 28, 2025—adding that the team made “tremendous progress,” including “16 times in the last 90 days,” and that the aircraft is “getting ready for its quiet supersonic debut.”
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The cockpit instrumentation showed a Mach 1.07 reading during a calibration phase, but the report says the actual achieved speed was closer to Mach 1.0—one more indication NASA is still validating measurement systems alongside the flight envelope.
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Because the X-59’s elongated nose blocks direct forward visibility, engineers equipped it with the eXternal Vision System (XVS), described as using high-definition cameras and augmented reality displays streamed to the pilot.
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Autonomous visibility and noise reduction are paired with a distinctive layout: the X-59 is reported as about 99.7 feet long with a 29.5-foot wingspan, and one account adds that it uses a GE Aviation engine mounted on the rear fuselage.
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