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Perhaps the most extraordinary-looking aircraft to have taken to the air in many years, the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology experimental test aircraft, or QueSST, has made its first flight. Much is resting on the test program that has now been kicked off, with the future of supersonic passenger flight arguably dependent on its successful outcome.
The first flight took place at the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. Subsequently, it’s planned for the X-59 to be moved to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, which is collocated with Edwards Air Force Base in California, for further test flights.
Ahead of the first flight, NASA had outlined its plans for the milestone sortie. This would be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 miles per hour to check system integration. It will be followed by the first phase of flight testing, focused on verifying the X-59’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound.
Although there were no public announcements, the first flight had been expected earlier this month but was scrubbed for unknown reasons. TWZ has reached out to NASA for more information in relation to today’s flight.
A product of Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works advanced projects division, the X-59 was rolled out at the Skunk Works facility within Palmdale in January 2024.
Rollout of the X-59 at the Skunk Works facility within Palmdale on January 12, 2024. NASA screencap
“In just a few short years, we’ve gone from an ambitious concept to reality,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said at the time. “NASA’s X-59 will help change the way we travel, bringing us closer together in much less time.”
The first flight was preceded by integrated systems testing, engine runs, and taxi testing.
Taxi tests began at Palmdale this summer, marking the first time that the X-59 had moved under its own power. NASA test pilot Nils Larson was at the controls for the aircraft’s first low-speed taxi test on July 10, 2025.
NASA test pilot Nils Larson lowers the canopy of the X-59 during ground tests at Palmdale in July 2025. Lockheed Martin
The X-59 project was kicked off back in 2016, and NASA had originally hoped that the aircraft would take to the air for the first time in 2020. The targeted first flight then slipped successively to 2023, to 2024, and then to this year.
Among other issues, NASA blamed the schedule slip on “several technical challenges identified over the course of 2023,” which the QueSST team then had to work through.
Once at Armstrong, the X-59 will be put through its paces as the centerpiece of NASA’s Quiet Supersonic Technology mission. This is an exciting project that TWZ has covered in detail over the years.
The main goal of QueSST is to prove that careful design considerations can reduce the noise of a traditional sonic boom to a “quieter sonic thump.” If that can then be ported over to future commercial designs, it could solve the longstanding problem of regulations that prohibit supersonic flight over land.
The only genuinely successful supersonic airliner was the Anglo-French Concorde. Even that aircraft had an abbreviated career, during which it struggled with enormously high operating costs and an ever-shrinking market.
Even before Concorde entered service, however, commercial supersonic flight over the United States had been prohibited, under legislation introduced in 1973. Even the U.S. military faces heavy restrictions on where and when it can operate aircraft above the speed of sound within national airspace. Similar prohibitions on supersonic flight exist in many other countries, too.
An earlier rendering showing the X-59 in flight. Lockheed Martin
NASA’s test program aims to push the X-59 to a speed of Mach 1.4, equivalent to around 925 miles per hour, over land. At that point, it’s hoped that its unique design, shaping, and technologies will result in a much quieter noise signature.
The second phase of the QueSST program will be about ensuring that the core design works as designed and will include multiple sorties over the supersonic test range at Edwards Air Force Base.
The third and final phase will be the Community Response Study, in which the X-59 will be flown over different locations in the United States. Individuals in those different communities will provide feedback on the noise signature via push notifications to cell phones.
A colorized schlieren image of a small-scale model of the X-59, taken inside NASA Glenn Research Center’s Supersonic Wind Tunnel during a boom test. NASA
At one time, the third phase was planned to take place between 2025 and 2026, but, as previously outlined, the program as a whole has now been delayed.
In the past, we have looked at some of the remarkable features that make the X-59 a test jet like no other.
Most obviously, there is its incredibly long nose, which accounts for around a third of its overall length of 99.7 feet. Meanwhile, its wingspan measures just under 30 feet. The idea behind the thin, tapering nose, which you can read about in detail here, is that the shock waves that are created in and around the supersonic regime will be dissipated. It is these shock waves that would otherwise produce a very audible sonic boom on the ground.
A head-on view of the X-59 before it received its paint scheme. Lockheed Martin via NASA
The X-59’s nose also dictates its unusual cockpit arrangement, with the pilot being located almost halfway down the length of the aircraft, with no forward-facing window at all. The pilot instead relies on the eXternal Vision System (XVS), which was specially developed for the aircraft, to see the outside world. This makes use of a series of high-resolution cameras that feed into a 4K monitor in the cockpit, something that we have also discussed in depth in the past.
Components of the XVS. NASA
A graphic render of the inside of the X-59 cockpit, including the XVS. Lockheed Martin
Another noteworthy feature is the location of the X-59’s powerplant, on top of the rear of the fuselage, which ensures a smooth underside. This is another part of the jet that has been tailored to address supersonic shockwaves, helping prevent them from merging behind the aircraft and causing a sonic boom. The powerplant itself is a single F414-GE-100 turbofan, a variant of the same engine found on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
The X-59’s single F414-GE-100 turbofan engine is installed. NASA/Carla Thomas
The X-59’s afterburner lights up the dusk at Palmdale, California. Lockheed Martin/Gary Tice Garry Tice
Meanwhile, various items found on the X-59 are more familiar. For example, the canopy and elements of the pilot’s seat are taken from the T-38 Talon, the landing gear is borrowed from an F-16, and the life-support system is adapted from that used in the F-15 Eagle.
If all proceeds as planned with the QueSST program, NASA should be able to demonstrate that the rules that currently prohibit commercial supersonic flight over land, both in the United States and elsewhere, can be adjusted.
However, whether that potential regulatory change is enough to spur the successful development of future commercial high-speed aircraft designs remains a big question.
After all, aside from Concorde, the quest to successfully introduce a supersonic passenger transport is one that has otherwise been littered with failures. Many will now be pinning their hopes on the X-59 helping to reverse that trend.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
Thomas is a defense writer and editor with over 20 years of experience covering military aerospace topics and conflicts. He’s written a number of books, edited many more, and has contributed to many of the world’s leading aviation publications. Before joining The War Zone in 2020, he was the editor of AirForces Monthly.
