Needle-nose X-59 jet just hit a major milestone in the quest to cut long-haul flight times in half

NASA’s experimental X-59 QueSST jet celebrated its first year in flight with a trip to the Kennedy Space Center — recording 41 flights and a top speed that would cut long-haul flights times in half.The needle-nose jet, dubbed the “Son of Concorde,” is fast — designed to hit 925 mph, which is Mach 1.4, and fly at 55,000 feet in the air, more than twice as high and nearly twice as fast as conventional airline jets.But that’s not the revolutionary bit.

QueSST stands for “Quiet SuperSonic Technology” — and its design turns the deafening “sonic boom” created by supersonic flight into much more manageable “glide thump.” If the design can be scaled up into a passenger plane, it could allow supersonic flight to return to the continental US and other populated areas.The jet would be capable of completing a trip from New York City to London in just 3.5 hours.

New York to Los Angeles — usually 5 to 6 hours — would be cut to just 2.5 hours.The US has not had commercial supersonic flights available since the Concorde, which was scrapped in 2003 due to high costs, limited seating, and a lack of interest from the public following a fatal crash in 2000.The X-59 was recorded leaving its California base last week, and it was spotted landing at Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct.28.Viral video quickly spread of the X-59, with its unique shape, flying over the Lone Star State, with NASA chief Jared Isaacman confirming on X that the jet was en route to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The footage, taken by Victoria Fontana, shows the supersonic plane flying over Fort Worth accompanied by one of NASA’s F-15s.The sighting came exactly one year after the X-59 first took to the skies at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility, in Palmdale.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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