Editing Tupolev Tu-144 (section)

==Flight testing==
Tu-144 suffered from a rush in the design process to the detriment of thoroughness and quality.{{r|cnn-20190710|at="55 flights"|quote=But it didn't entirely convince the Soviets that the aircraft needed more testing. 'Political priorities to overcome the West, no matter what, obviously played a negative role, as they favored rushing over proper scheduling in a highly challenging and complicated field,' said Grinberg. When it finally started flying passengers in 1977, the Tu-144 turned out to be cramped, prone to breaking...}} According to Concorde technical flight manager Brian Calvert, "the rush to get [Tu-144] airborne exacted a heavy penalty later". Concorde's first flight was originally scheduled for February 1968, but was pushed back several times until March 1969 in order to iron out problems and test components more thoroughly.<ref name="calvert2002">{{cite book |last=Calvert |first=Brian |title=Flying Concorde: The Full Story |year=2002 |publisher=Airlife |location=London |isbn=1-84037-352-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/flyingconcordefu0000calv}}</ref>{{rp|page=127}} The rush is apparent even in outward timing: the 1963 government decree launching the Tu-144 programme defined that the Tu-144 should fly in 1968; it first flew on the last day of 1968 (31 December) to fulfill government goals set five years earlier.