Breaking: NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Jet Takes Off – Travel Times Could Halve
California Celebrates a Supersonic Breakthrough Governor Newsom used the X-59 as a showcase for the state’s advanced manufacturing. In an Oct. 27 press release, he proclaimed the Lockheed-built jet the “Coolest Thing Made in California” for 2025 gov.ca.gov. He noted that this quiet supersonic aircraft “exemplifies” California’s “unmatched creativity, ingenuity and manufacturing excellence” gov.ca.gov. The state-sponsored contest (whose finalists included a Sacramento-built train and an Alameda solar vessel) was a public vote on October’s Manufacturing Month. Newsom’s announcement highlighted that the X-59 was “designed to separate shockwaves and quiet the disruptive sonic boom that has long limited supersonic travel”, saying
