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US Air Force Sonic boom surfer crashes after 31 seconds
An attempt to fly an unmanned experimental hypersonic military aircraft at six times the speed of sound has failed, the US Air Force says.
The Waverider was designed to reach speeds of Mach 6 or above, which is six times the speed of sound and fast enough to zoom from New York to London in less than an hour.
But officials said the aircraft broke apart over the Pacific Ocean just half a minute into a test flight.
They said a control fin malfunctioned shortly after a rocker booster on the X-51A aircraft was ignited to increase its speed.
When the X-51A separated from the rocket booster 15 seconds later, it lost control due to a "faulty control fin," the US Air Force said in a statement.
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