The Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 aircraft breaks the sound barrier, Mach 1, during a test flight Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, over the Mohave Desert, Calif. (Boom Supersonic via AP)
An aircraft developed by Boom Supersonic became the first independently funded jet to break the sound barrier this week. The XB-1 aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.05 at about 35,000 feet during a test flight Tuesday in the same Mojave Desert airspace in California where Charles “Chuck” Yeager was the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947.
Here’s a look at the flight and the history of supersonic travel:
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Why was the Boom Supersonic flight significant?
It was a step toward reviving supersonic commercial travel, which has been on hiatus since the Concorde jet was grounded more than two decades ago.
Boom Supersonic has contracts with at least two airlines to buy their commercial airliners once they are developed. Several companies are working to come up with new supersonic jets that would be more fuel efficient — and create fewer climate-changing emissions — than the Concorde.
Boom’s founder and CEO Blake Scholl says the flight
Independently funded jet’s sound barrier mark revives talk of commercial supersonic travel
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