At the end of the last century, a wealthy few lived the dream of flying faster than the speed of sound, crossing the ocean in champagne-and-caviar style in a needle-nosed jet called the Concorde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But commercial supersonic aviation\u2019s 27-year run sputtered to a stop in the 21st century as fuel, safety and maintenance costs soared at the same time passenger interest waned amid the economic and political turmoil of a post-9\/11 world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By then, a slew of environmental hazards\u2014the outsized carbon emissions from the fuel-thirsty aircraft and damage to the ozone layer as well as window-rattling noise pollution on the ground\u2014made the Concorde seem like a dinosaur of the skies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the U.S. space agency NASA is working to revive the dream. It is preparing to break the sound barrier again\u2014with an experimental \u201clow-boom\u201d aircraft that it says could usher in a new generation of ultra-fast commercial air travel. The agency told Congress it is aiming for the first test flight by October of its \u201cQuesst\u201d mission (a play on \u201cSST,\u201d supersonic transport).<\/p>\n\n\n\n