On this day in space! Oct. 14, 1947: Test pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, the first X-plane

On Oct.

14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time! Chuck Yeager was a test pilot for the U.S.

Air Force who made history by flying an aircraft faster than the speed of sound.

Yeager made his historic flight in a Bell X-1 rocket plane that he named "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife.

Yeager had broken two ribs the night before when he fell off a horse, but that didn't stop him! His aircraft was dropped from a Boeing B-29 bomber before accelerating to a speed of Mach 1.07, which is about 821 mph (1,321 km/h).

The speed of sound, Mach 1, is about 760 mph (1,223 km/h).

USAF Capt.

Charles E.

Yeager (shown standing with the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane) became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight on Oct.

14, 1947. (Image credit: United States Air Force Archive) Why it mattered Before Yeager made his daring Bell X-1 flight, piloted supersonic flight was only a concept.

The Bell X-1 began its life as the XS-1, a cooperative project between NASA's predecessor the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and the U.S.

Army Forces, which would evolve later into the U.S.

Air Force.

Bell Aircraft won the contract to build the experimental plane in March 1945 and was delivered in December of that year.