NASA readies the X-59 for its first supersonic flight, SpaceX's Starship grounded and more science stories

Tomorrow NASA readies the X-59 for its first supersonic flight, SpaceX's Starship grounded and more science stories This week’s science news. By Cheyenne MacDonald May 30, 2026 12:30 pm EST NASA/Jim Ross This week, NASA shared more information about its planned moon base missions, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on the launchpad and the James Webb Space Telescope spotted a supermassive black hole that researchers say "may have formed within the first second after the big bang." But first, we have updates on NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic research plane and SpaceX's Starship following last week's test flight. Catch up here on this week's science news. Key test flights approach for NASA's quiet supersonic plane Over the last decade, NASA has been developing an aircraft that could one day reach supersonic speeds — or travel faster than the speed of sound — without producing the thunderous sonic booms typically associated with this feat. The plane, called the X-59, took its first ever flight back in October and has conducted several more in the months since. Now, NASA says it's ready to go supersonic. The X-59 is scheduled to take its first supersonic flight, hitting over 630 mph at an altitude of about 43,000 feet, in early June, according to the space agency. Then, in a followup "mission conditions" test, it will reach 925 mph (Mach 1.4) at about 55,000 feet. After that, it'll go for its max speed: Mach 1.6, or 1,218 mph, at an altitude of 60,000 feet. NASA isn't ready to show off the X-59's quiet supersonic capabilities yet, though. For this phase of testing, NASA noted in a blog post, "The X-59 will be accompanied by a traditional supersonic chase plane, so any quiet thump it produces in the current phase of testing will be obscured by louder, traditional sonic booms from the chase." FAA grounds Starship after 'mishap' SpaceX's Starship V3 launched for the first time last week in a test flight that achieved much of what the company set out to do. But, it wasn'