NASA Aeronautics

🤫 High-Speed Flight
🚁 Revolutionizing Engineering Methods
✈️ Air Traffic Management
🍃 Ultra-Efficient Aviation

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

Wheels up for NASA’s X-59. ✈️

In its first wheels-up flight, the aircraft revealed its sleek, streamlined design—key to reducing sonic booms to a quiet thump.

See how this milestone moves us closer to quiet supersonic flight over land:
https://t.co/GZ6BvYWwX3

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

From serving our nation to shaping the future of flight. ✈️

This #VeteransDay, we honor X-59 test pilots Clue, Nils, Mike, and all veterans helping advance NASA’s Quesst mission.

🇺🇸 https://t.co/kh8lqybyK7

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

⚡ Technology Success: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Check out how students are helping advance the future of flight! ✈️

Through NASA-supported research, students are developing innovative technologies for a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft, including electric propulsion systems and the world's first electric motor to use superconducting coils in its rotor.

🔗 https://t.co/L6Ny8weSCl

[NASA @NASA]

Flying high!

Today, our X-59 quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft traveled from Birmingham, Alabama, to Daytona Beach, Florida. The aircraft aims to fly faster than sound with just a gentle thump rather than a sonic boom — helping usher in a new era of faster air travel.

We're prepping to feature X-59 at MAX POWER and will provide updates soon!

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

Very pleased to announce our newest X-plane, the X-70 Fractal, is joining the @NASAaero fleet to research and develop advanced flight control technology far beyond anything tested in a crewed aircraft. She will take flight under the @NASA banner within the next two years. The science fiction future we imagined as children is ours to build... and I promise, there will be more 🇺🇸

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

🚨 BREAKING: Introducing X-70 Fractal, @NASA's newest experimental aircraft!

This crewed, modular aircraft will allow the agency to rapidly swap out internal & external payloads to help keep pushing the frontiers of aviation technology! @nasaadmin

Details: https://t.co/uSF1VRgdQE

[NASA Events @NASA_Events]

The aircraft lineup just keeps getting bigger. ✈️

MAX POWER, a new aerospace expo, is set for Nov. 7-8 @NASAKennedy — featuring flyovers and static displays, including NASA’s F-15, F-18, T-38, and ER-2 aircraft.

Details on how to join us: https://t.co/TLLfVBgYnZ

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

From NASA student researcher to drone entrepreneur! 🚁

Gavin Gardner credits NASA’s University Student Research Challenge with helping him develop the technical and business skills that contributed to co-founding AG3 Labs.

Read his story: https://t.co/A3ah9BVmF2

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

One year. New heights. Faster speeds. ✈️

Since its first flight on Oct. 28, 2025, NASA's X-59 has continued pushing the boundaries of aviation.

See how far we've come in just one year!
https://t.co/N7ew2vnCtI

#NASAaero #Quesst

[NASA Armstrong @NASAArmstrong]

NASA test pilot Mike Lippert completed his first flight in the X-59, marking his first time flying an X-plane.

After years flying high-performance aircraft and months preparing for the mission, Lippert completed high-altitude test points and handling evaluations to support the X-59 flight test campaign.

"For as long as I can remember, I've dreamt of doing exactly what I got to do today."

🔗: https://t.co/jpa9kIQn8a

[NASA Langley Research Center @NASALangley]

What can a glowing wing tell us about the future of flight? ✈️

At NASA Langley, researchers used unsteady pressure sensitive paint for the first time on a large-scale, freely moving model in Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, turning changes in airflow into data researchers can see.

Learn more: https://t.co/RregMzKVQo

Video credit: NASA

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

🏆 A historic flight. A prestigious honor!

NASA's X-59 lead pilot Nils Larson recently received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for his role in the aircraft's first flight and expanding its flight envelope. ✈️

https://t.co/0z4QZ7uamE

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

🧊✈️ NASA is tackling a rare but persistent aviation hazard: icing that occurs when aircraft encounter unusually large, supercooled water droplets in clouds.

Researchers are conducting tests to help industry better understand this phenomenon.

🔗 https://t.co/M54CVOlXLd

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

Talk about diving into your work! ✈️🔧

Keeping NASA’s X-59 flight-ready sometimes means going headfirst into its engine inlet. See how technicians use “duct diving” to inspect critical components of our quiet supersonic aircraft.
https://t.co/FdbC7bQbI4

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

✈️ A passion for model aircraft turned into a career advancing flight research at NASA.

Meet three members of the team putting that passion to work at NASA Armstrong’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory: https://t.co/UNwAkJ0giw

[NASA Armstrong @NASAArmstrong]

A double birthday celebration! 🎉

@NASA and @EdwardsAFB in California teamed up to honor NASA Armstrong’s 80th and America’s 250th with STEM activities, a NASA flyover with sonic boom, and remarks from astronaut Matthew Dominick. 🇺🇸 ✈️

Explore more about Armstrong's 80th: https://t.co/WoQxyzdQHP

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

✈️ Six flights. One week. Fastest speed to date.

NASA’s X-59 completed its busiest week of flight testing yet — and reached Mach 1.53, approximately 1,010 mph, its fastest speed to date. 💨

See how the team is expanding the aircraft’s flight envelope: https://t.co/9bOQOTCApB

[NASA Aeronautics @NASAaero]

🎓 Success Story: University of Nevada, Reno

Check out this unexpected impact. ✈️

Through NASA's University Leadership Initiative, researchers worked on advanced simulations and testing for airborne systems that sparked the launch of a new Aerospace Engineering program. 🚀

🔗 https://t.co/idIGwGTZHc

[NASA Armstrong @NASAArmstrong]

We’re celebrating NASA research test pilot David “Nils” Larson, who earned the 2026 Iven C. Kincheloe Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for outstanding accomplishment in flight test! ✈️ 🌟

From the X-59’s first flight to its first flight reaching Mach 1.4 and 55,000 feet altitude, Nils’ pioneering work drives aerospace innovation forward.

Congratulations, Nils, on an inspiring achievement!

🔗: https://t.co/P8XnDSfsW0

[NASA Ames @NASAAmes]

Smoother skies ahead✈️

NASA is developing technologies that are modernizing and digitizing the commercial flying experience, from the departure to the sky to the arrival. Learn more: https://t.co/hOEAoHtLBY