This week, NASA shared more details 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 seconds after the big bang.” But first, we have updates on NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft and SpaceX’s Starship after last week’s test flight. See this week’s science news here.
Major test flights approach for NASA’s quiet supersonic aircraft
Over the past decade, NASA has been developing an aircraft that could one day reach supersonic speeds – or travel faster than the speed of sound – without generating the thunderous sonic booms associated with the feat. The plane, called the X-59, made its first flight in October and has made several flights in the months since. Now, NASA says it’s ready to go supersonic. According to the space agency, the
Then, in follow-up “mission conditions” testing, it will reach 925 mph (Mach 1.4) at about 55,000 feet. After that, it will reach its maximum speed: Mach 1.6, or 1,218 mph, at an altitude of 60,000 feet. However, NASA isn’t ready to show off the X-59’s cool supersonic capabilities yet. For this phase of testing, NASA said in a blog post, “The
FAA bans Starship after ‘accident’
SpaceX’s Starship V3 launched for the first time last week in a test flight, achieving many of the goals set by the company. But, it wasn’t entirely without hiccups, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has since ordered a pause on Starship flights while it investigates what went wrong and prevented the Super Heavy booster from performing a soft splashdown as intended.
This issue arose after Starship separated from Super Heavy. “After stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver and attempted its boostback burn,” SpaceX reported in a blog post after launch. “It was unable to ignite all planned engines and performed a partial boostback burn that ended early. The Super Heavy attempted to restart its engines for a landing burn before experiencing a hard splash in the US Gulf.” The Starship completed its journey and landed at the planned site in the Indian Ocean.
Starship liftoff! pic.twitter.com/LQLdjK5V6K
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2026
“After a thorough evaluation of operations, the FAA has determined that the accident occurred as a result of the SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch on May 22,” the agency said in a statement released this week. “The accident involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back into the Gulf of Mexico after separating from the stage. There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property.” It added, “The FAA is requiring SpaceX to investigate the accident. The FAA will oversee the SpaceX-led investigation, be involved at every step of the process, and approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.”
This is not an unusual move on the part of the FAA, and SpaceX has faced several such groundings over the past few years, many of which were ended fairly quickly. It won’t be long before we see the starship back in action. “The return to flight of the Starship-Super Heavy vehicle is based on the FAA’s determination that any system, process or procedure related to the accident does not impact public safety,” the FAA said in its statement.
The FAA grounded SpaceX competitor Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket last month after its third mission, and it was cleared to resume flights earlier this week. But, during hotfire testing on Friday, the New Glenn exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. You can read more about it below.
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