Nov. 6 (UPI) -- NASA engineers fired the engines on the X-59 research aircraft in advance of planned test flights to determine if the aircraft can reduce sonic booms and make supersonic flight over land quieter. Engineers began test-firing the experimental aircraft's jet engine at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, Calif., on Oct. 30 to see if the aircraft's systems work properly while the engine is in use before its inaugural test flight sometime in the near future.