Lockheed Martin’s X-59 Breaks the Sound Barrier Without a Sonic Boom
NASA and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed the first flight of the X-59, an experimental supersonic aircraft that could revolutionize supersonic transport by transforming the… 
NASA and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed the first flight of the X-59, an experimental supersonic aircraft that could revolutionize supersonic transport by transforming the deafening sonic boom into a mere whisper.
On the morning of 28 October 2025, in California, at 09:17 local time, the needle-nosed X-59 lifted off from Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale Plant 42 on runway 22, climbed smoothly to 12,000 feet, and eight minutes later touched down at Edwards Air Force Base, 60 kilometres to the east. No roar, no thunder—just the soft whistle of a General Electric F414-GE-100 engine and the faint rustle of high desert wind. This was not a stunt;…
