NASA test pilot Mike Lippert completes inaugural flight of quiet supersonic X-59
Mike Lippert piloted NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Oct. 21, 2026, taking off from Edwards, California and returning after about an hour.
On Oct. 21, 2026, NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flew the X-59, a low-boom supersonic demonstrator, for its first mission with him at the controls. The aircraft launched from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards and landed roughly one hour later. This flight followed a period of scheduled maintenance and a systems review after the program’s most intensive testing week to date.
Why it matters
The flight advances research on quieter supersonic travel, a key step toward future commercial high-speed aircraft.
In this story
X-59quiet supersonictest pilotArmstrong Flight Research CenterNASAsupersonic researchmaintenancesystems review
