Explore the past and future of supersonic flight

Fifty years after the Concorde first flew, a new era of innovation and entrepreneurial ideas seeks to make supersonic flight practical and sustainable. Flying passengers at twice the speed of sound, the Concorde captured the imagination of millions, but was retired in 2003 — so what's next for supersonic flight? From reducing the sonic boom to a quiet thump to the possible pathways for supersonic to return to commercial aviation, join us for a discussion on the supersonic airliner that started it all and where we’re headed next. Speakers include:

  • Lawrence Azerrad, author of Supersonic: The Design and Lifestyle of Concorde
  • Peter Coen, manager of NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission to design and build a piloted, large-scale supersonic X-plane with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom
  • Joe Wilding, co-founder and CTO of Boom, a private company working on supersonic flight focused on building history’s fastest commercial airliner
  • Joel Kirk, executive leader - Advanced Systems Design & Technology at GE Aviation

Request free tickets or watch the live webcast.

To request an ASL interpreter, please email NASMPublicLectures@si.edu.

The GE Aviation Lecture Series is made possible by GE Aviation.

Aircraft Aviation Commercial aviation Technology and Engineering
How to attend

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC

6th St. and Independence Ave SW. Washington, DC 20560
Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater