**Field Notes #68** | January 28, 2025 | [[Mojave, CA]]
> On January 28th, 2025 Boom Supersonic's XB-1 aircraft became humanity's first privately-developed aircraft to break the speed of sound, not once, but three times. I drove to the desert at 4am to capture this piece of history, explore the frontier of the [[Aviation Renaissance]], and ponder the tenuous journey innovators face in doing the impossible.
I'm writing this with bone-chilling cold customary to the Mojave Desert inside of Boom Supersonic's test hangar and a fair amount of sleep deprivation — I'm trying to get Story's first feature-length documentary, New Space, ready for its premiere in a few days and announce our company to the world — but sometimes history calls you and tells you to be there, to film, and capture it.
Just a few minutes after Boom's 13th test flight where they went supersonic 3 times, I threw together some initial footage, capturing this moment — this is the first time a privately developed aircraft **with no government funding** has cracked the sound barrier. There are a few reasons this is a **big** deal:
1. This is incredibly hard to do — it's 10x hard doing it with a human inside and 100x harder without government funding, and they did it with fewer than 50 people
2. The company Boom has become to achieve this is a big deal
3. This is the starting gun for the [[Modern Aviation Renaissance]]
I filmed with Boom a few months ago, during their 3rd flight test of XB-1. It was special—I ran inside the hangar right as the engines were starting, it was deafening. The sun was just about to come up, Blake was running around with giddy excitement, an AirPod listening in on flight operations while on the taxiway. And I was the only camera in sight. _This flight test was different._ There were over 12 camera crews — Boom's livestream team, Fox News, Y Combinator (an early Boom investor), and Ashlee Vance's new company [Core Memory](https://www.corememory.com/) were all there rolling!
At first, it was overwhelming, then after XB-1's engines started and test pilot Geppetto rolled XB-1 to the tarmac, the ~200 or so guests walked to the flight line, and I forgot the cameras were there.
It felt like a slice of history.
I saw parents excitedly watching the flight with their children, other test pilots and teams from other Mojave programs looking on, and Blake's friends and family giddily waiting for the moment of truth. Sure enough, N minutes into the flight, Geppetto pushed XB-1 through the sound barrier once... then twice... then a third time! Boom claimed they did this to validate their test campaign, and I believe them, but I also think they were making a point — _we built a plane that can go supersonic not once, but three times._ The elation and joy from the crowd was tangible.
I didn't have any of the champagne, but if I did I would have toasted not to the past 10 years of Boom's hard work, but to the next: _to Boom venturing to build a supersonic airliner capable of making the world a smaller place._ And to all of the existing and new entrants who will make up the soon-coming [[Aviation Renaissance]].
Now hurry the hell up!
We all can't wait to fly faster.