Boom's XB-1 aircraft was subjected to a maximum dynamic pressure higher than it will experience at Mach 1.1. The next test flight will likely go supersonic.

Commercial supersonic flight sped closer to returning as the Boom Supersonic XB-1 prototype reached a transonic speed of Mach 0.95 during Test Flight 11 on January 10, 2025, in the skies over the Mojave Desert in California.

Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, called off the inaugural launch of its huge new rocket again on Monday evening after facing weather issues.The company later said it had discovered an icing issue on a purge line and would aim for a possible early Tuesday morning launch, but that weather conditions were unfavorable.

If NASA’s bet on its newest X-plane pays off, the long-nosed aircraft could revolutionize commercial aviation. That is, if history doesn’t repeat itself.

Chief Test pilot Tristan Bradenburg flew the XB-1 demonstrator plane to 29,481 feet and reached Mach 0.95 during a 44-minute flight, Boom announced. The speed is considered transonic, just below the speed of sound, and faster than commercial jetliners fly.

For more than seven decades, speed has been the hallmark of commercial aviation. But while we have the capability to push those speeds from around 500 mph to even greater extremes thanks to faster-than-sound supersonic flight,