05/30/10 — Ramjet based, WaveRider flies autonomously for more than 200 seconds reaching an altitude of about 70,000 feet and an approximate speed of Mach 5. In its first flight attempt, the Boeing [NYSE: BA] X-51A WaveRider successfully completed the longest supersonic combustion ramjet-powered flight in history—nearly three and a half minutes at a top speed of Mach 5. The unmanned aerial vehicle was released from a U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber off the southern California coast around 10 a.m. today. It flew autonomously for more than 200 seconds, powered by its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) motor, as…