SNECMA, relied on an after-burner to generate the acceleration needed for takeoff and to break the sound barrier.

ECONOMIST: Supersonics on the back burner | The

His SpaceShipOne has flown to the top of the atmosphere and last year became the first privately built aircraft to break the sound barrier.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Space future: Race for the X-Prize

In 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over Rogers Dry Lake, California.

CNN: Saturday,

In 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, he drove Thrust SSC to become the first person to break the sound barrier in a car and set the existing land-speed record of 763mph.

ECONOMIST: The land-speed record