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NASA’s X-59 QueSST Completes First Flight, Launching Quiet-Supersonic Test Campaign

The program now transitions to data-gathering that aims to inform noise-based rules allowing future supersonic travel over land.

On it’s first flight, NASA's experimental quiet supersonic aircraft X-59 takes off from runway 7 at Palmdale USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, U.S. October 28, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson
Main image: NASA's X-59 QueSST. (Image credit: Lockheed Martin). Inset: Flightradar24 track of the X-59's maiden flight. (Image credit: Flightradar24.com)
On it’s first flight, NASA's experimental quiet supersonic aircraft X-59 takes off from runway 7 at Palmdale USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, U.S. October 28, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson
On it’s first flight, NASA's experimental quiet supersonic aircraft X-59 takes off from runway 7 at Palmdale USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, U.S. October 28, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson

Overview

  • NASA’s experimental X-59 took off from Plant 42 in Palmdale on Oct. 28 and landed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards after a brief shakedown flight.
  • The aircraft reached roughly 240 mph and about 12,000 feet as NASA test pilot Nils Larson evaluated handling qualities, systems integration, and instrumentation.
  • The maiden sortie begins months of airworthiness and envelope-expansion tests before higher-speed runs that are planned to exceed Mach 1 and target up to about Mach 1.4.
  • Designed to turn a traditional sonic boom into a lower-level “thump,” the nearly 100‑foot X-59 features a long tapered nose, a top-mounted F414-GE-100 engine, and an eXternal Vision System in place of a forward window.
  • NASA plans community overflights to collect public response data for the FAA and international regulators as the U.S. moves toward noise-based certification standards following a June 2025 policy directive.