Tu-144 supersonic laboratory, 1997. The Tupolev Tu-144 was the world's first supersonic passenger jet. It made a successful test flight on 31st Decemb

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Tu-144 supersonic laboratory, 1997. The Tupolev Tu-144 was the world's first supersonic passenger jet. It made a successful test flight on 31st December 1968, two months before Concorde, and first broke the sound barrier on 5th June 1969. Passenger flights were discontinued from 1978, but test flights continued. One aircraft was converted into a flying laboratory and named Tu-144LL. Here, it touches down and deploys drag chutes following a test flight at the Zhukovsky Air Development Center near Moscow, Russia. NASA research pilots assessed its handling qualities between September 1998 and spring 1999. Photographed in July 1997.

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Size: 3545px × 2477px
Photo credit: © NASA/IBP/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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