NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

S82-28456 (19 Feb. 1982) --- Astronauts Jack R. Lousma, left, STS-3 commander, and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot, are briefed on emergency procedures at Launch Pad 39A by Buck Tomlinson, a safety instructor with Wackenhut Services, Inc. Also pictured is astronaut Daniel C. Brandenstein, STS-8 pilot. The men were at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for participation in a countdown demonstration test (CDDT). Photo credit: NASA

S82-28454 (19 Feb. 1982) --- Astronaut Jack R. Lousma, right, STS-3 commander, and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot, carry portable spacesuit air controllers as they walk from a transport van to Launch Pad 39A to participate in a simulated countdown and launch. This countdown demonstration test (CDDT) is part of the preparations for NASA?s third orbital flight test in the space shuttle Columbia. The two are scheduled to spend a week orbiting Earth in Columbia this spring. Photo credit: NASA

S82-28457 (19 Feb. 1982) --- Member of the JSC astronaut corps., STS-3 vehicle integration test (VIT) team and other personnel pose for a photograph at the completion of a countdown demonstration test (CDDT) and safety briefings at Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Participants are, from the left, Wilbur J. Etbauer, engineer with the VIT team; George W. S. Abbey, director of flight operations at JSC; astronaut John W. Young, chief of the astronaut office at JSC; Jack Fleming of Rockwell International; mission specialist-astronaut John M. Lounge; astronaut Daniel C. Brandenstein; mission specialist-astronaut James D. Van Hoften; astronauts C. Gordon Fullerton and Jack Lousma, prime crew for STS-3; Olan J. Bertrand, VIT team member; mission specialist-astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan; Richard W. Nygren, head of the VIT team; and astronaut Donald E. Williams. The space shuttle Columbia is obscured by its service structure on Launch Pad 39A in the background. Part of slide-wire type emergency escape system is visible in the picture. Photo credit: NASA

Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

S82-28455 (19 Feb. 1982) --- The prime crew members for STS-3 take a break in their training schedule at KSC to pose for a few pictures. Astronaut Jack R. Lousma, left, is crew commander; and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot, for STS-3 scheduled to launch this spring. Launch Pad 39A is in the background. Photo credit: NASA

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, right, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce, left, are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is seen during a committee hearing titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, right, is seen with Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Ranking Member of the committee prior to a committee hearing titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies along with Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, right, and Kevin O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce, left, are seen during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled "The New Space Race: Ensuring U.S. Global Leadership on the Final Frontier," Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

One of multiple microphone stations used in the CarpetDIEM flight series, which gave researchers valuable lessons learned in preparations to deploy a similar array for the quiet supersonic X-59. Prior to community overflights, X-59 will undergo an acoustic validation phase, during which NASA will deploy the array of specially-configured microphones to measure the X-59’s thumps, in order to verify that they are as quiet as predicted.

Juliet Page, a physical scientist with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, calibrates a microphone station during the CarpetDIEM flight series. The array featured high-fidelity microphones arranged in several configurations, giving researchers the ability to obtain accurate sound data and assess the loudness of the sonic booms, just as they will measure the quiet sonic thumps from the X-59.