NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Demonstrator Makes First Test Flight | Aviation International News

NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Demonstrator Makes First Test Flight

Supersonic demonstrator topped 254 knots in first test

Lockheed Martin X-59 first flight — The X-59 demonstrator achieved its first flight on Oct. 28, 2025. © Lockheed Martin

By Hanneke Weitering • Science & Technology Editor

October 28, 2025

NASA’s X-59 “Quesst” quiet supersonic technology demonstrator notched its first test flight Tuesday morning over Southern California.

According to flight tracking data available on Flightradar24, the experimental supersonic aircraft, registered N859NA, took off from Palmdale Regional Airport at 8:14 a.m. local time on October 28 and headed northeast toward Edwards Air Force Base. It circled over the base in a racetrack pattern for about an hour before landing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards at 9:21 a.m.

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Lockheed Martin

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