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LiveScience
LiveScience
Rory Bathgate

Boom Supersonic's XB-1 smashes the sound barrier — becoming the 1st civil aircraft to go supersonic in US history

A photo of the XB-1 on the tarmac with a crowd of people around it.

Boom Supersonic's XB-1 has successfully broken the sound barrier, becoming the first supersonic civil aircraft in U.S. history.

Today (Jan. 28), the XB-1 took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California and reached Mach 1.1 — equivalent to 1.1 times the speed of sound, or 844 mph (1,358 km/h). It reached this record speed on three separate occasions during its 34-minute test flight.

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