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P-3B Starts the Day
P-3B Starts the Day

On March 21, 2013, the P-3B aircraft waits outside the hangar at Thule Air Base with the Greenland Ice sheet…

Let’s Twist Again
Let’s Twist Again

The X-53 was a modified F/A-18 fighter used for a joint Air Force, Boeing and NASA project called the Active…

Shhh. Be Very, Very Quiet.
Shhh. Be Very, Very Quiet.

NASA continued to explore new aircraft designs capable of reducing the noise level of sonic booms by test flying an…

Double Your Fun
Double Your Fun

The first plane to reach Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, was the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. Civilian test…

Reaching for Space
Reaching for Space

Perhaps the most famous of the X-planes is the North American X-15 rocket plane. During its 199 test flights between…

Supersonic Goes Big
Supersonic Goes Big

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the prototype for a supersonic bomber that was never built, but the two test…

Smooth. Real Smooth.
Smooth. Real Smooth.

This NASA F-16XL-2 aircraft was used during 1995-96 for the Supersonic Laminar Flow Control project to demonstrate that airflow could…

Supersonic Goes Hyper
Supersonic Goes Hyper

Taking the leap well beyond supersonic flight, a hypersonic X-43 aircraft reached a record-breaking speed of Mach 9.6, or nearly…

Shape of Things to Come
Shape of Things to Come

This modified Northrop F-5E jet was used during 2003 for NASA's Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program, a successful effort to…

Wind Tunnel in the Sky
Wind Tunnel in the Sky

Originally designed as a supersonic interceptor for the Air Force, the YF-12A was a variant of Lockheed's A-12 reconnaissance plane.…