NASA’s First X-43A Crashed Into the Pacific in 2001 — The Two That Followed Set Hypersonic Records No Aircraft Has Beaten in 22 Years

NASA’s First X-43A Crashed Into the Pacific in 2001 — The Two That Followed Set Hypersonic Records No Aircraft Has Beaten in 22 Years

In the early 2000s, NASA was among the first to achieve sustained hypersonic flight. As part of the broader Hyper-X program, NASA developed the X-43, a small, unmanned research aircraft powered by an experimental scramjet. From 2001 to 2004, X-43A conducted three test flights, with the third proving particularly successful. Originally, there were plans to produce more test aircraft and develop variants of the X-43A, but these were later scrapped…