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Schlieren image of shock waves created by a T-38C in supersonic flight

Let’s Fly!

Welcome to NASA’s online home for all things related to the first “A” in NASA —Aeronautics. Here you can stay informed about NASA’s research to improve air travel and make it more sustainable. And if you’re interested in how NASA airplanes support the agency’s science programs and flight operations, we’ve got you covered. NASA is with you when you fly.

pictured: Schlieren image of T-38's SUpersonic shock waves.

welcome to the flight line – FEATURED AERONAUTICS content

Alternative Low Noise Fan setup in the 9'x15' Low-Speed Wind Tunnel at NASA Glenn.

The 9- by 15-Foot Low-Speed Wind Tunnel (9×15) is the most utilized low-speed propulsion acoustic facility in the world. 

Langley's C-20B Gulfstream III

NASA's Gulfstream III research airplane based in Virginia.

U.S. Navy Brewster Buffalo experimental aircraft

A Wartime Necessity

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft

Learn about the Aircraft Operations Division at Johnson Space Center and the airplanes they fly.

Spring has sprung at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

Read about aeronautics work at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.

Aeronáutica en español

Conozca los avances tecnológicos desarrollados por la NASA, la industria de la aviación está mejor equipada que nunca para transportar pasajeros y carga de manera segura y eficiente a destinos alrededor del mundo en español.

Lee la noticia en español aquí
A female passenger on a flight with her eyes closed. On the right are images of aero research.

NASA Aeronautics – A Vision for Aviation in the 21st Century

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is working to enable industry to introduce transformative options for future air travel in at least four major areas.

Artist illustration of the X-59 in flight over water and land.

High-Speed Commercial Flight

Quesst is NASA's mission to show the X-59 can fly supersonic without generating loud sonic booms and survey what people hear when it flies overhead. Reaction to the quieter sonic "thumps" will be shared with regulators who will then consider writing new rules to lift the ban on faster-than-sound flight over land.

Artist illustration of an unmanned passenger aircraft preparing to land on the vertiport.

Advanced Air Mobility

Advanced Air Mobility is NASA's mission to help emerging aviation markets safely develop an air transportation system that moves people and cargo between places previously not served or underserved by aviation, using revolutionary new aircraft that are only just now becoming possible thanks to converging technologies.

Artist illustration of an aerial view of the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing aircraft in flight above a forest of green trees.

Ultra-Efficient Airliners

NASA is committed to supporting the U.S. climate goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector by 2050. Under the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, NASA is leading federal agencies and industry to accelerate the development of sustainable technologies. 

An artist’s conception of an urban air mobility environment with various unmanned aircraft within a city.

Future Airspace and Safety

NASA is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and others to transform air traffic management systems to safely accommodate the growing demand of new air vehicles entering the airspace, enabling them to perform a variety of missions no matter what airspace that mission may require.

Aeronautics Innovation Challenges

NASA’s Aeronautics Innovation Challenges are your entry points to the exciting, fast-moving aviation world of today. And they’re valuable ways for us to get inputs and ideas that may never have occurred to us. Thank you for joining our journey!

Learn More about Aeronautics Innovation Challenges about Aeronautics Innovation Challenges
View within the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s F/A-18 research aircraft cockpit, while in flight.

Fly With Us!

Start Your Own Aeronautics Flight Log Book

NASA invites you, your family – even your friends and classmates – to sign up and add your name to our list of virtual passengers. Your name can ride with us on our X-planes, drones, and other flights as NASA explores ways to improve aviation for everyone. Print your personalized boarding passes, enter flights into your virtual flight log, and access activities, videos, and more!

Set Up Your Flight Log Here about Start Your Own Aeronautics Flight Log Book
A graphic showing different Aeronautics research aircraft, an unmanned passenger eVTOL, an electric airplane, the X-59 and an F-15 with red and blue stripes on the top and bottom.
NASA

The NACA

The predecessor of NASA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was founded in 1915 with the intent of being an advisory committee that would coordinate research underway elsewhere. It quickly became a leading research organization in the new field of aeronautics, pushing back the boundaries of flight until its transformation into NASA in 1958.

Read More about the NACA about The NACA
Making the Modern Airplane
Artist illustration of the X-59 in flight over a surbuban neighborhood.

Research about flying faster than the speed of sound.

Aerospace Cognitive Engineering Lab Rapid Automation Test Environment; (ACEL-RATE) in N262 showing out-the-window views of San Francisco for UAM UTM Ride Quality Simulation project.

Stories about pioneering the frontiers of 21st century flight.

The Moog SureFly aircraft hovers above Cincinnati Municipal Airport during an acoustic hover test.

All about new ways to get from here to there in the air.

Transonic Truss-Braced Wing image created using data from a computational fluid dynamics simulation.

Learn about research to make aviation more sustainable.

Airplane outside it's gate at the airport.

Read about how NASA is opening up the sky for all.

F-15s on Armstrong Ramp

Information about NASA's fleet of aircraft.

Sunset view of the DC-8 parked on the tarmac is getting inspected.

News about using NASA aircraft to better understand our world.

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