NASA’s X-59 has left the test range for a road trip. On 28 October 2026, exactly a year after its first flight, the long-nosed supersonic jet set off from Edwards Air Force Base in California for Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It hopped across the country with stops in El Paso and Fort Worth in Texas, then Birmingham in Alabama. The leg from Fort Worth to Birmingham alone was 539 nautical miles. NASA test pilots Nils Larson and Jim Less flew it, with F-15 and F/A-18 chase planes alongside.
In Florida the X-59 goes on static display at NASA’s MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show on 7 and 8 November.
Its first year was busy. The first flight lasted 67 minutes and reached 12,000 ft and 230 mph. Since then it has flown more than 40 times, reaching Mach 1.53 and over 56,000 ft.
The whole point of the X-59 is a soft supersonic “thump” instead of a bang. Next come acoustic tests, then flights over selected communities to hear what people think. The results go to the regulators who will decide whether supersonic flight over land could be allowed one day.
Sources: AVweb (Matt Ryan), 29 October 2026; AIN (Kerry Lynch), 30 October 2026
Photo (the X-59 on its first flight): NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center / Wikimedia Commons, public domain