Nearly a decade after NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin to build the unique aircraft, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) jet has successfully completed its first flight in California. The milestone moves the project one step closer to its ambitious goal: achieving supersonic flight without generating the disruptive “sonic boom.”
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The test flight on Tuesday saw the aircraft travel from the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Lockheed Martin confirmed that “The X-59 performed exactly as planned,” verifying its initial flying qualities and air data performance before a safe landing at its new home.
The ultimate aim of the X-59 project is to pave the way for future commercial supersonic flights over land. The plane is engineered with specific design tweaks—such as positioning the jet engine on top of the plane and utilizing an extremely long, slender nose—to shape the shockwaves generated when traveling faster than Mach 1. The result is meant to be a faint sonic “thump,” rather than a boom, if those on the ground hear anything at all.
With this crucial test flight complete, NASA and Lockheed plan to conduct future tests to rigorously measure the X-59’s “sound signature and conduct community acceptance testing.” The data gathered will be essential for informing regulatory changes.
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This research holds new relevance following the June 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump that ordered the removal of the ban on supersonic flights over the United States, which had been in place since 1973 due to concerns over noise pollution and property damage.
The knowledge gleaned from the QueSST mission will be used to “inform the establishment of new data-driven acceptable noise thresholds” for commercial aviation. If successful, the X-59 could dramatically shorten travel times for both people and cargo, ushering in a new era of faster air travel.
