NASA’s X-59 in Flight for the First Time

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies above Palmdale and Edwards, California, on its first flight Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. The aircraft traveled to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, where it will begin flight testing for NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight over land.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies above Palmdale and Edwards, California, on its first flight Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. The aircraft traveled to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, where it will begin flight testing for NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight over land.

Photographer NASA/Jim Ross
Album X-59_First_Flight
Location AFRC
NASAX-59First FlightAviationHistoryLow Boom Flight DemonstratorQuesstQuestCrew ChiefGround CrewSupersonicMachSonic BoomQuiet Supersonic TechnologyX-planesX-planeAeronauticsTest PilotLockheed MartinSkunk WorksSpeedAFRCArmstrong Flight Research CenterLangley Research CenterAmes Research CenterGlenn Research CenterSonic ThumpCommercial Supersonic TechnologyAirplanesPalmdaleCaliforniaLBFD