GoKawiilNASA's X-59 experimental jet aims to make sonic booms tolerable
NASA is testing the X-59, an experimental supersonic aircraft with an elongated nose designed to flatten sonic booms into quieter thumps rather than sharp cracks. Program manager Peter Coen says the plane continues NASA's 80-year 'X-plane' tradition, dating back to the 1947 Bell X-1, of building single-purpose aircraft to test one specific technical goal cheaply.