NASA is ramping up its X-59 supersonic aircraft testing campaign with a series of envelope expansion test flights.

On April 14, the space agency stress tested the X-59, with a pilot performing a series of controlled maneuvers. While the footage wouldn’t quite earn a place in the next Top Gun movie, it marks an impressive step on the road to a new era of supersonic flight.

According to a NASA post, the pilot performed a rollercoaster maneuver, followed by a flutter excitation and several other high-speed moves. The space agency showed off the controlled, impressive test flight in a new video shared online.

NASA’s X-59 0.98 Mach test flight pushes the envelope

NASA is now analyzing the data from that test flight, which took place over the Mojave Desert in California. Its ultimate goal is to prove a technology that vastly reduces the volume of sonic booms, enabling a new class of operational supersonic aircraft.

Enevelope testing sees engineers test an aircraft beyond its validated limits, to define safe operating boundaries.

NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin, is 99.7 feet (30.39 meters) long and has a wingspan of just 29.5 feet (9 meters). Its thin nose, which makes up almost a third of the aircraft’s length, is essential for reducing the noise of the thunderous sound supersonic aircraft make when crossing the sound barrier.

The aircraft first took to the skies on October 28, 2025. Since then, the space agency has gradually upped the ante, flying its aircraft faster and higher.

During that inaugural flight, the X-59 spent roughly an hour in the air before landing near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. It flew at a relatively low speed of 230 mph (370 km/h) and a maximum altitude of roughly 12,000 feet (3.6 kilometers).

For the April 14 flight, NASA pushed X-59 to near-supersonic speeds of 0.98 Mach. In a post, the space agency noted that the pilot performed a rollercoaster maneuver, pitching the aircraft up and down to “better understand aerodynamic forces and characterize stability and control.” They then performed a similar bank-to-bank maneuver, tipping the aircraft right and left, rather than up and down.

A flutter excitation maneuver, meanwhile, introduced deliberate vibrations into the aircraft’s structure. Finally, a wings-level push and a gear-extend maneuver further tested the aerodynamic, structural, and handling qualities of the aircraft.

X-59’s ‘sonic thumps’ are like a car door slamming

NASA began developing the X-59 aircraft almost ten years ago, with a $518 million contract to Lockheed Martin.

The ongoing test campaign could ultimately allow aircraft to accelerate to the speed of sound (767 mph, or Mach 1) while flying over populated areas. Before it was decommissioned in 2003, the Concorde had to fly slower over populated areas to avoid shattering windows.

By contrast, NASA has previously stated that the X-59’s sonic boom will be comparable to a “car door slamming” from the ground. In fact, the agency claims the X-59 emits “sonic thumps”, rather than sonic booms.

According to NASA, it is making steady progress. As the space agency noted in its post: “The envelope expansion phase of any experimental aircraft is critical, not just for pushing the aircraft higher and faster, but for understanding how the aircraft operates in flight.”