On this day in space! June 23, 1949: XS-1 space plane aces 117th flight

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On June 23, 1949, the XS-1 space plane flew for the 117th time.

On June 23, 1949, the XS-1 space plane flew for the 117th time. The XS-1, later called the Bell X-1, was a piloted, rocket engine-powered spaceplane that could fly faster than the speed of sound.

In June of 2000, possible evidence was found of liquid on Mars. (Image credit: NASA)

During this flight, pilot Robert Champine tested the aircraft's stability, control and handling at transonic speeds. He even managed to pull a few stunts, like pull-ups and rolls. There were 157 flights in total for the XS-1. These provided data for future US fighter designs as well as spacecraft designs.

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Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.