National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

NASA

Junior Pilot

Program

Elementary Level—Grades K-5

X-59
Welcome!

I am a flying squirrel; Orville is my name.

I get to work at NASA – that’s my source of fame.

I am a fan of airplanes; I love to see them fly.

I think it is amazing, how they soar across the sky.

I learned to fly when I was young - when I was only one.

It is something that I love, ‘cause it’s lots of fun!

Since my arms have flaps of skin, that work like airplane wings,

I can glide great distances, from trees and other things.

Viewing Earth from in the sky, enables me to see,

The beauty of our planet, the way it’s meant to be.

We need to help the trees and land, and help the waters too.

That’s one of NASA’s missions, something that we do.

We help to improve airplanes, in lots of different ways,

To make them clean and quiet, for greener future days.

Activity 1: 

Color Orville

Hi! I’m Orville and I 

love to fly! I want to 

show you all about 

flight and the X-59 

airplane. So, follow 

along with me to 

become an official 

NASA junior pilot!
Who is NASA?

Activity 2: 

Color By 

Number

NASA is short for National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration. It is an agency of the United States 

Government that works on space exploration and 

aeronautics. People with all different jobs work for NASA. 

Some of these jobs include engineers, writers, chefs, graphic 

designers, and just about any other job you can think of!

Each area of the picture below has a math problem to solve. Use the answers 

to figure out what colors to use. Do not color in areas that have no number.

1 – BLUE 2 – RED 3 - BLACK
What is 

Aeronautics?

Aeronautics

Activity 3: 

Find the 

Words

Aeronautics is the science of travel through the air. NASA does a lot of 

research in aeronautics to make airplanes and helicopters better and 

support missions to space. NASA is even working to make drones and 

flying cars something you will see in the sky around you!

How many smaller words can you make using the letters in the word 

AERONAUTICS? Write your words on the lines below.
One of the ways NASA makes planes better is by making new planes. 

These planes, called X-planes, are used to test new ideas. The “X” in the 

word X-plane is short for experimental because they are planes that test 

new designs and ways to fly.

The very first X-plane built by NASA 

was the Bell X-1. It was flown by an 

Air Force pilot named Chuck Yeager. 

In 1947, while flying the X-1, he 

became the first pilot to fly faster 

than the speed of sound.

Since then, NASA has designed 

and built more than 20 different 

X-planes. They have been used 

to make planes faster, safer, and 

more friendly to the environment.

The X-15 (2nd image) was the 

fastest X-plane ever flown. The X-29 

(3rd image) has wings that go forward. 

The X-57 (bottom image) flies using 

only battery power. 

Credit: All photos from NASA

The History of X-Planes

X-1

X-15

X-29

X-57
If you were a NASA engineer designing an X-plane, 

what would it do? In the space below, draw a picture 

of your plane. Then, use the lines to talk about your 

plane. How fast would it go? Would it do anything 

special? Would it carry people?

Activity 4: 

Make Your 

Own X-Plane

Describe your plane:
What is 

Aeronautics?

Activity 5: 

Color Your 

Own X-59

When planes fly faster than the speed of sound, they make a very loud noise called 

a sonic boom. This is caused by the sound waves made when flying at supersonic 

speeds (faster than the speed of sound). The X-59 is a new type of airplane that will 

fly supersonic without a sonic boom.

If the X-59 work is successful, people might be able to fly across the United States 

very quickly. Who knows, maybe you’ll have the chance to fly on a supersonic plane 

some day!!!

If you worked at NASA and had the job of painting the X-59, what would you 

want it to look like? Color the picture below to show your awesome design!
Who will fly the X-59?

Did you know there are more than 15 men and 

women at NASA who have the job of flying 

airplanes? They fly lots of different types of 

planes and helicopters all over the world!

Do you think you might want to be a test pilot?

The X-59 will be flown by someone at NASA called a test pilot. A test pilot flies new 

airplanes to make sure they are safe.

Nils Larson is a test pilot at NASA’s Flight Research Center in California and is NASA’s lead 

pilot for the X-59. He also helps NASA with almost all parts of their flight research projects.

Nils has flown many supersonic research flights, which are flights where the airplane 

flies faster than the speed of sound. This includes supersonic flights in California, 

Florida and Texas.

Before joining NASA in 2007, Nils was in the U.S. Air Force. He has flown for more than 

7,000 hours total in over 100 different aircraft.

In college, he earned a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering from the U.S. 

Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 
Help Orville Find His Plane

Activity 6:

Find the 

Right Path

Orville loves flying! After learning about NASA’s test 

pilots, he decided he wanted to become one. 

To become a test pilot, Orville needs LOTS of practice 

flying. So, he flies planes every chance he gets. He is 

going to fly today but is not sure which path he should 

take to get to the plane. Can you help him?

Orville should take path ___.
How Fast Does the X-59 Go?

The X-59 is a supersonic airplane, which means that it travels 

faster than sound! Its top speed is 940 miles per hour! This is 

almost twice as fast as a regular commercial airliner like the 

ones that you see at airports and flying overhead.

Color in the squares of the graph below to show how fast 

each one can go. The table shows you how many squares to 

color in for each item. For half squares, color in the left half of 

the square. The X-59 is already completed for you.

 

Top Speed (Miles per Hour) Number of Squares to Color in

X-59 940 19

Runner 25 1⁄2

Cheetah 75 1 1⁄2

Airliner 550 11

Car 100 2

250

Speed (Miles per Hour)

500 750 1000

X-59

Runner

Cheetah

Airliner

Car

Activity 7:

Graph It
Sound is created when something vibrates and 

sends out waves of energy called vibrations. 

These vibrations, called sound waves, travel 

through the air to your ear and your brain 

recognizes them as the sounds you hear.

Sound waves travel through the air at about 

770 miles per hour. Supersonic planes travel

even faster than this! The problem is that when 

planes go that fast, the sound waves get 

pushed together. This makes a very loud sound 

called a sonic boom. NASA is hoping to make 

sonic booms much quieter. This will be good for 

people and animals.

The Science of Sound

Activity 8:

Unscramble

the Words

Unscramble each set of letters to make words and enter those words in the 

boxes. Then, take the letters from each of the 5 highlighted boxes. You can 

unscramble these letters to answer the final puzzle at the bottom.

DOLU

PRESUCINSO

IERTUQE

COINS MOBO

GENYER

I hardly heard a

Hint: All the answers are words found in the paragraph above.
What Do Sound 

Waves Look Like?

You just learned that sound is made when something “vibrates.” But what does 

that really mean? When something vibrates, it moves back and forth. We hear 

different sounds because things vibrate differently and at different speeds.

We can use a computer to show us what the vibrations for a sound look like. 

The picture the computer makes is called a waveform. Here is an example of 

a waveform.

This waveform shows the sound waves made when a 

hammer hits a nail five times. Each of the hits caused 

vibrations which can be seen in the picture above.

The second and third time the hammer hit the nail, it 

was louder than each of the other times. That is why 

it made bigger vibrations for those two hits.

Go to the next page to see if 

you can identify sounds from 

their waveforms.
Identify the Sound

Below you will find waveforms for seven different sounds. For each of 

the sounds, you need to figure out which waveform shows that sound. 

You can listen to each of the sounds by visiting the following web page:

Once you figure out which waveform shows a specific sound, enter your answer in the 

table next to the pictures of the waveforms below. The first answer is given to you.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/identify-the-sound/

Activity 9:

Identify the 

Sound

A D G

B E

C F

Sound Waveform

1 B

2

3

4

5

6

7

If you don’t have a way to listen to the sounds, you can use the descriptions below to 

complete the activity.

•	 Sound 1: This sound is a warning whistle that blows 3 times.

•	 Sound 2: This is the sound of a plane flying by. It gets louder and then quieter.

•	 Sound 3: This is a doorbell ringing. It has a quiet noise followed by a louder noise that

slowly gets quieter.

•	 Sound 4: This is the sound of a drumroll. There is noise the whole time that gets a little

louder and quieter.

•	 Sound 5: This is the sound of a frog croaking 3 times. There is a long pause between

the first 2 croaks and short pause between the other 2.

•	 Sound 6: This is a trumpet playing a tune. There are a lot of notes with short pauses 

between them.

•	 Sound 7: This is the sound of a car horn honking twice with silence between the honks.
Important Words

Activity 10: 

Word Search

There are a lot of special words that are important for NASA’s X-59. 

The meaning of some of these words are shown below.

AERONAUTICS – the science of travel through the air

AIRPLANE – a vehicle that flies through the air

NASA – a government agency that studies the science of flight and more

SONIC BOOM – a very loud noise created by planes that fly supersonic

SOUNDWAVE – how sound moves from one place to another

SUPERSONIC – faster than the speed of sound

XPLANE – an experimental plane used to test new ideas

Find each of the words defined above in the puzzle.

AERONAUTICS

AIRPLANE

NASA

SONIC BOOM

SOUNDWAVE

SUPERSONIC

XPLANE

Bonus: Can you 

find my name in 

the puzzle?

A I N O A I R P L A N E

O S U P E R S O N I C S

R M E T S D I Q R P J B

V A E R O N A U T I C S

I D Y Y N D H E D K W Z

L P M H I L O S N F Q Y

L T I R P M U H T A Z C

E X P L A N E T Y I S E

F S O N I C B O O M F A

S O U N D W A V E F Y G
More to Do and Learn!

Answers

You can visit these NASA web pages to find more activities and information:

• Aeronautics @ Home: Lots of fun activities! https://www.nasa.gov/aero-at-home

• All About the X-59: You can learn lots more about this awesome plane! 

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/X59/
Doodle Space


National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20546

EP-2021-07-537-HQ