For years now, NASA has been working on the X-59, a supersonic jet that’s also super quiet, reaching ludicrous speeds without sounding like it’s tearing a hole in the sky. According to NASA, that effort hit a major milestone on June 5 when the experimental aircraft broke the sound barrier for the first time.
The X-59 took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California and spent 81 minutes in the air. Piloted by NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less — a man with a nickname so good he had to search the skies at supersonic speeds to find a challenger — the aircraft ascended to 43,400 feet and reached a top speed of Mach 1.1. That’s around 713 miles per hour, for those of you keeping score at home. It was the first time the jet had flown faster than sound since its maiden flight in October 2025.
NASA’s Quiet Supersonic Jet Just Broke the Sound Barrier for the First Time
The news isn’t exactly groundbreaking, as it’s been 80 years since the first time humans created a vehicle that broke the sound barrier, but what’s fascinating here is that the X-59 was trying to do it more quietly than it’s ever been done before, namely without the iconic and extraordinarily loud sonic booms that usually accompany a vehicle as it blows past the speed of sound.
Since the early 70s, the boom of a sonic boom has prohibited civilian supersonic flights over land. No one wants the commercial plane soaring over their heads to blow out their windows. The X-59 is specifically designed to eliminate that, opening the door to maybe, possibly, ushering in a new era of supersonic commercial flight.
Built by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division as part of NASA’s Quesst program, the jet eliminates the classic ear-rattling sonic boom, converting it into a much quieter “thump” by having designed it with a long, needlelike nose that slices through the air.
Next up in the jet’s testing plans is to fly the X-59 at Mach 1.4 and at around 55,000 feet before eventually sending it over towns and cities across the United States, all while researchers gather data on how people perceive its noise, or lack thereof.
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