At the time, the MD-90 was hailed as one of the quietest aircraft ever built in its class, and it had significant fuel savings compared with the MD-88. Delta Air Lines operates 120 MD-88s.

Last week, Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences started work on phase three of a DARPA project to make a full-scale X-plane, the X-65, which could change aircraft design as we know it. Well ...

NASA Collaborates With Boeing. Boeing's key modifications to the MD-90 will involve the replacement of its wings with a new set that boasts a sleeker, elongated design supported by diagonal struts.

Boeing has started dismantling and scanning an old MD-90 as part of a multi-year NASA-supported project to transform the former passenger jet into the X-66A truss-braced-wing demonstrator.