{"id":409711,"date":"2026-04-21T01:57:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=2cc167dcc4c969cd1a9032bd9ccaedad"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:57:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:57:54","slug":"wheels-up-for-x-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=409711","title":{"rendered":"Wheels Up for X-59"},"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\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?w=2000\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"NASA\u2019s X-59 flies above the Mojave Desert on a clear day. The white aircraft has light gray, red, and blue accents, with a NASA logo and the number 859 on its tail. It appears flying level over the desert landscape, with a mountain range visible on the horizon and a trail of clouds above.\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp 2000w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=1024,576 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=1536,864 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=400,225 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=600,338 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=900,506 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x-59-flight-9-screen-grab.webp?resize=1200,675 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NASA\u2019s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies over the Mojave Desert in California in this April 14, 2026, image. The transition to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EQXn8tRInvY\" rel=\"noopener\">flying with wheels up<\/a> is a key milestone and an important step in the experimental aircraft&#8217;s test campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The X-59 has made its highest and fastest flights so far, expanding its operational range and making progress toward supersonic flight. In future flights, the team will also be looking at factors like the performance of its controls, loads and structural dynamics, and subsystems including hydraulics, fuel, avionics, landing gear, and more. They will also be monitoring the performance of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/aeronautics\/nasa-completes-tests-of-x-59-external-vision-system\/\">eXternal Vision System<\/a>, the series of cameras located on the X-59 connected to a display in the cockpit. The system takes the place of a traditional forward windscreen.<\/p>\n<p>NASA&#8217;s Quesst mission, which features the one-of-a-kind X-59 aircraft, will demonstrate technology to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, without generating loud sonic booms.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/blogs\/quesst\/\">Keep up with the latest X-59 news on the NASA Quesst blog.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Image credit: NASA<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies over the Mojave Desert in California in this April 14, 2026, image. The transition to flying with wheels up is a key milestone and an important step in the experimental aircraft\u2019s test campaign. The X-59 has made its highest and fastest flights so far, expanding its operational range [\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":[15640,16073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aeronautics","category-quesst-x-59"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409711","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=409711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409712,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409711\/revisions\/409712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=409711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=409711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=409711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}