PALMDALE, California >> NASA’s X-59 supersonic-but-quiet jet soared over the Southern California desert on Tuesday in the first test flight of an experimental aircraft designed to break the sound barrier with little noise, paving the way for faster commercial air travel.

The sleek aircraft, built for NASA by aerospace contractor Lockheed Martin, took off about an hour after sunrise from a runway at Plant 42 of the company’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, about 60 miles (100 km) north of Los Angeles.

After a steep climb over sod fields just east of the runway, the plane was seen banking to the north on a trajectory toward Edwards Air Force Base, where it landed safely about an hour later near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. It was accompanied by a NASA chase plane.

The plane’

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