NASA’s Supersonic X-59 Is on the Move

Agency’s final stage of ground testing will culminate in the experimental model’s inaugural flight, targeted for later this year.

Jack Daleo

Friday, July 18, 2025 at 03:10 PM ET

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Jack Daleo

The experimental X-59 features a thin nose that spans about one-third of its nearly 100-foot length, designed to break up shock waves. [Courtesy: NASA/Carla Thomas]

Key Takeaways:

NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft has begun low-speed taxi tests, a crucial final step before its inaugural flight later this year.
The aircraft's primary goal is to reduce loud sonic booms to a "gentle thump," aiming to enable commercial supersonic flight over land, which has been banned since 1973 due to noise.
The X-59 features innovative design elements, including a long, tapered nose and a cockpit without a forward-facing window, engineered to disperse shockwaves and minimize sonic boom noise.
This project is part of a broader effort, supported by recent legislative and industry initiatives, to lift the decades-old ban on overland supersonic flight as quiet supersonic technology advances.

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For the first time, NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 is moving under its own power.

The experimental aircraft has begun a series of low-speed taxi tests at contractor Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the space agency said Thursday. First flight was initially scheduled for 2023 before being pushed to 2024 and now later this year. But taxi tests are the final step before it is cleared for takeoff.