{"id":320303,"date":"2025-11-21T08:12:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=522fb8949a7a4c746745c3feff0a43e4"},"modified":"2025-11-21T08:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:12:56","slug":"nasas-quesst-mission-marks-x-59s-historic-first-flight-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=320303","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Quesst Mission Marks X-59\u2019s Historic First Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\">\n<div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1366\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"The X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies above California. The plane has a distinctive shape with a long, sharply pointed nose. The nose is silver, while the rest of the body looks white. The words &quot;NASA&quot; and &quot;X-59&quot; are on the body of the aircraft. In the background, we can see brown earth below the plane as well as hazy mountains in the distance.\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" loading=\"eager\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg 6827w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=900,600 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/afrc2025-0168-045orig.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/Lori Losey<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NASA\u2019s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took off for its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/armstrong\/nasas-x-59-completes-first-flight-prepares-for-more-flight-testing\/\">historic first flight<\/a> on Oct. 28, 2025, at 11:14 a.m. EDT from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The one-of-a-kind aircraft flew for 67 minutes before landing and taxiing to NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.<\/p>\n<p>NASA test pilot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/people\/david-nils-larson\/\">Nils Larson<\/a> flew the X-59 up to an altitude of about 12,000 feet and an approximate top speed of 230 mph, precisely as planned. The plane\u2019s landing gear remained down during the entire flight, a common practice for experimental aircraft flying for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the X-59&#8217;s first flight is in the books, the team is focused on preparing for a series of test flights where the aircraft will operate at higher altitudes and supersonic speeds.&nbsp;This test flight phase of NASA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission\/quesst\/\">Quesst mission<\/a> will ensure the X-59 meets performance and safety expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Through the Quesst mission, NASA aims to usher in a new age of quiet supersonic flight, achieved through the unique design and technology of the X-59 in future supersonic transport aircraft.<\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: NASA\/Lori Losey<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took off for its historic first flight on Oct. 28, 2025, at 11:14 a.m. EDT from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The one-of-a-kind aircraft flew for 67 minutes before landing and taxiing to NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA test pilot Nils Larson flew [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15640,15602,16072,16073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aeronautics","category-armstrong-flight-research-center","category-low-boom-flight-demonstrator","category-quesst-x-59"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320303"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320702,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320303\/revisions\/320702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}