NASA’s X-59 research aircraft moves from its construction site to the flight line — or the space between the hangar and the runway — at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif., on June 16, 2023. This milestone kicks off a series of ground tests to ensure the X-59 is safe and ready to fly.

The X-59 is designed to fly faster than Mach 1 while reducing the resulting sonic boom to a thump for people on the ground. NASA will evaluate this technology during flight tests as part of the agency’s Quesst mission, which helps enable commercial supersonic air travel over land.