NASA's Quieter Supersonic X-59 Approved for Final Assembly

The future of supersonic flight across land will be tested with NASA X-59. (LMA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An experimental NASA aircraft designed to perform supersonic commercial travel while reducing the sound generated by sonic booms was approved for final assembly on Thursday.

The X-59, also known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), is NASA’s first experimental aircraft in three decades. Aircraft construction is taking place today at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Skunk Works plant in Palmdale, California.

A $250-million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2018 will see the aircraft built and tested during 2020. The X-59 is expected to make its inaugural flight from Edwards AFB, Calif. in 2021 to deem it is safe to fly.

Following a series of test flights, NASA will receive the aircraft in late-2021 to close out Phase one. Phase two will have a NASA test pilot first fly the X-59 to Mach 1 over the Edwards test range in 2022.

NASA research test pilot Jim Less is one of two pilots waiting in the wings to perform those first supersonic flight tests. “A supersonic manned X-plane,” Less said during a NASA interview. “This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We’re all pretty excited.”

NASA's X-57 Maxwell to Demonstrate the Benefits of Electric Propulsion

NASA's experimental aircraft will use electricity and zero gas to fly. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is engineering an all-electric aircraft capable of flying people and cargo great distances as a futuristic, clean-energy concept becomes a reality during the coming decade.

NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades, the X-57 Maxwell will push the boundaries of aeronautics by creating a clean-air, low noise aircraft. Using a modified Italian Tecnam P2006T high-winged aircraft, NASA has removed its propellers and will install an experimental wing with a reduced surface area.

When testing is completed in 2020, the nearly 3,000-pound X-57 may be able to fly at a maximum altitude of 14,000-feet. Its fastest air speed is expected at about 172 m.p.h. during a cruising altitude of 8,000-feet.

Test pilots and engineers are now preparing for those first flights this autumn by working with an X-57 simulator. Pilots are learning how the unflown aircraft may react in flight and understanding possible failure modes.

NASA Orion begins new era of crewed space exploration

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The future of America's manned space program received a boost on Friday with the successful lift-off of NASA's Orion spacecraft on its first orbital test flight.

Orion craft launches on test flight. (NASA)

Destined to carry four astronauts to an asteroid and the Moon during the next decade, the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft was uncrewed as NASA aims to learn how it will perform both in space and during it's return home.

"It's the beginning of exploration It's the beginning of putting Orion in space," exclaimed NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer. "On a flight test like this if there are subtleties in how the vehicle behaves with the environments, my hope is that we find that on this test flight."

The launch occurred a few minutes after sunrise and one day late following an attempt to get the Delta IV off the ground. Problem plagued fuel valves, winds and a stray civilian boat forced launch control to scrub on Thursday.

Thousands of spectators returned to the beaches and causeways around Cape Canaveral early Friday, many who camped for three days just to secure a good place. "We arrived at our hotel on Cocoa Beach a few days ago just so that we could watch the launch," said Jennifer Hyatt of East Lancing, Michigan. "The lift-off this morning was incredible with the rumble and smoke column."

The prelaunch activities happened during the predawn hours as the United Launch Alliance launch team and the Air Force fueled the Delta IV rocket and brought the Orion spacecraft to life. The trouble free countdown neared its end as the first rays of the Sun broke above the Atlantic horizon and bathed the 250-foot tall rocket.

NASA to launch uncrewed Orion on orbital test flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The future of NASA crewed spaceflights beyond Earth orbit will be put to the test Thursday as the space agency launches a new spacecraft to qualify it's performance in space and the capability of its heat shield during its return to earth.

Built by Lockheed Martin, the cone-shaped Orion spacecraft will fly uncrewed during this first test flight -- NASA's first step in returning Americans to the Moon in the 2020's and later an asteroid and on to Mars.

"This is special. This is our first step on that journey to Mars," exclaimed Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana on Monday. "This is a huge first step to be able to check out the vehicle on the Delta IV."

The success of this $370 million mission will weigh heavily for NASA as the space agency looks to recapture the glory days of human spaceflight. The end of the space shuttle program in 2011 marked the last time Americans soared into earth orbit from the United States. Orion will allow four astronauts to fly beyond low earth orbit beginning with the first crewed flight in 2021.

Private American companies are moving forward under NASA's leadership to prepare in launching astronauts to the space station a few years earlier, while NASA focuses on launching beyond earth orbit.

"We are going to test the riskier parts of the mission with ascent and entry," said NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer. "Things like the faring separation, heat shield, parachutes, guidance... those kinds of things. As well as flying into deep space and examining the radiation effects on the avionics."