Growth Supersonic made historical past lately (Jan. 28) when its XB-1 jet broke the sound barrier for the primary time.Growth Supersonic’s leader check pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg took off within the corporate’s XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & House Port in California this morning underneath most commonly transparent skies. Some 11.5 mins into the flight — the twelfth general for the XB-1 — at an altitude of round 35,000 toes (10,668 meters), the check airplane exceeded Mach 1, the rate of sound, marking the primary time a civil airplane has long past supersonic over the continental United States.”That is this kind of large step, construction the primary civil supersonic jet, you realize, proper right here in The united states,” stated Growth guide and previous Leader Engineer Greg Krauland throughout the corporate’s livestream on X. “This jet in point of fact does have a lot of the enabling applied sciences which might be going to allow us to head forward and to construct a industrial supersonic airliner this is to be had to the hundreds.”
XB-1 First Supersonic Flight – YouTube
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The XB-1 went supersonic two further instances throughout the flight, at about 17 and 22 mins after takeoff, to permit pilots to check the jet’s dealing with efficiency throughout supersonic flight. The scale of the experimental airspace for lately’s flight restricted how lengthy the jet used to be ready to fly above Mach 1.Growth Supersonic’s XB-1 airplane is going supersonic throughout a check flight on Jan. 28, 2025. (Symbol credit score: Growth Supersonic by way of X)”I am simply to-the-moon serious about how neatly that went,” Krauland stated throughout lately’s livestream.The flight used to be filmed and monitored through two other chase planes, a Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet, and a Northrop T-38 Talon, the similar airplane NASA makes use of to coach its astronauts.
Growth Supersonic’s XB-1 jet (foreground) and a Mirage F-1 chase airplane throughout the XB-1’s first supersonic flight on Jan. 28, 2025. (Symbol credit score: Growth Supersonic by way of X)The XB-1 landed more or less half-hour after liftoff on its bespoke touchdown tools, designed in particular for the airplane.Breaking house information, the newest updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!Nowadays’s check flight used to be livestreamed the usage of broadband web beamed to Earth from SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc constellation. A Starlink Mini unit used to be put in within the T-38 chase airplane utilized in lately’s check flight, enabling extraordinary reside video of the aviation milestone.”We are getting broadband speeds, you realize, at level 8 Mach [at] 31,000 toes … The aptitude that is dropped at the sport of flight check has been beautiful implausible, in truth — very shocked through the potential,” Growth Supersonic Leader Flight Take a look at Engineer Nick Sheryka stated throughout the corporate’s livestream.
A Starlink Mini antenna within a T-38 Talon airplane. (Symbol credit score: Growth Supersonic by way of X)The XB-1 is a generation demonstrator, which means Growth Supersonic is checking out it with a purpose to validate the design and subsystems of the jet to pave the way in which for the corporate’s Overture passenger airplane.Overture is a deliberate 64-to-80 seat supersonic airplane that Growth Supersonic hopes can develop into the primary passenger jet to fly quicker than the rate of sound because the British-French Concorde, which made its remaining flight in 2003.Colorado-based Growth Supersonic already has over 100 orders for Overture from primary airliners international. The corporate hopes to lend a hand go back supersonic airliners to provider, doubtlessly slicing flight instances in part.