reply to post by randyvs
And that's in 93! Imagine what they have flying around now a days. Since you are in Apple Valley, you might have some luck looking up at night from
time to time.
Powered flight tests
The first powered flight of the X-51 was planned for 25 May 2010, but the presence of a cargo ship traveling through a portion of the Naval Air Station Point Mugu Sea Range caused a 24 hour postponement. The X-51 completed its first powered flight successfully on 26 May 2010 by flying for over 200 seconds and reaching a speed of Mach 5; it did not meet the planned 300 second flight duration, however.The flight had the longest scramjet burn time of 140 seconds. The X-43 had the previous longest flight burn time of 12 seconds, while setting a new speed record of Mach 9.8 (12,144 km/h, 7,546 mph).
Three more test flights were planned and will use the same flight trajectory. Boeing proposed to the Air Force Research Laboratory that two test flights be added in order to increase the total to six, with flights taking place at four to six week intervals, assuming there are no failures.
The second test flight was initially scheduled for 24 March 2011, but was not conducted due to unfavorable test conditions. The flight took place on 13 June 2011. However, the flight over the Pacific Ocean ended early due to an inlet unstart event after being boosted to Mach 5 speed. The flight data from the test is being investigated. A B-52 released the X-51 at an approximate altitude of 50,000 feet. The X-51’s scramjet engine lit on ethylene, but did not properly transition to JP-7 fuel operation.

