NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Judith Doughty cried tears of joy and disbelief as she was reunited with her dog, Skylar, who went missing three years ago.

Skylar is a 6-year-old Maltese. Doughty said she got him when he was a puppy, but one day he disappeared after going outside to use the bathroom.

She said he was with another dog but didn’t return. Her family searched for him and was devastated when they couldn’t find him.

Three years went by with no sign of Skylar, until last week, when Sherae Battle was driving to the hospital with her kids in Newport News.

“My kids were like, 'Mom, Mom, Mom, hold on. It’s a dog.' I'm like, 'Where?' He was just walking in the street, and I'm like, ‘Oh, my gracious,' so I did a U-turn in the middle of the street,” Battle said.

She said the dog went to a nearby wooded area to drink from a pond. She said she was worried he would fall in, and her kids used Goldfish crackers to lure him to them.

They brought him to the car and kept him for two days until the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter opened back up.

“I immediately scanned for the microchip, which is standard procedure for us when strays come in,” said Susan Jacobs, an animal services technician at the shelter.

She called the number on the chip, and it was owner Judith Doughty’s daughter, Ginger Vassar, who answered.

“I could hardly speak to her because she was screaming in excitement,” Jacobs said.

Vassar arranged to bring her mom to the shelter, but they didn’t tell Doughty why.

“The lady told me to have a seat,” said Doughty. “They said, 'We've got a surprise for you.'”

Skylar came strolling out, and Doughty was elated to have her precious pooch back in her arms.

“He started licking me; I started crying,” Doughty said. “It was a miracle to me. I still can’t believe I got him back after three years.”

Skylar was found about 15 miles from where he went missing.

"I'm so happy she was able to get her dog back. That's all that matters. I'm so happy," said Sherae Battle, the woman who brought the dog to the shelter.

Jacobs said Skylar was in good condition and appeared to have been taken care of. She said it's rare to see a dog reunited with his owner three years after going missing.

“It doesn't happen that often, but it has happened before. We're always so happy when it does happen -- thank goodness for microchipping. It's just awesome,” Jacobs said.

“Glad we got him to his right owner. I'm so happy that she got her dog back,” Battle said.

“I was sad when he was gone, but I didn’t give up. I prayed and prayed, and the Lord answered my prayers. Anyone else who sees this, I hope they try to look for their dogs,” Doughty said.

Watch the surprise video below:

This story originally reported by Margaret Kavanagh on WTKR.com.

HAMPTON, Va. — A test airplane that could change the way people fly is nearing completion in California, with Virginia scientists and engineers playing a big role in making it happen.

NASA's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft is designed to break the sound barrier without the loud and disruptive sonic boom that typically accompanies Mach 1 speeds, leading to the banning of supersonic travel over land.

The NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, took an early lead in the project, known as Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, when it began a few years ago.

"People would rather have faster air travel if they could so our goal with this project is to have those rules changed," said Craig Nickol, the project manager for the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator.

Nickol, who's based at Langley, says research centers across the country are working on the project, including around 20-30 scientists and engineers in the Hampton area.

Langley played a key role in early design and testing. Specific major contributions include the creation of a real-time camera and screen system pilots will use to see out of the aircraft, which lacks a cockpit window due to design constraints.

"They've actually finished it. They've done ground tests on that system, they've even done flight tests on the system and it's been delivered out to the West Coast already from Langley," Nickol said.

With Lockheed Martin set to finish construction on the X-59 this year, ground testing can begin as early as this fall, Nickol says, with the first test flight set for Summer 2022.

According to NASA, test flights over Armstrong Flight Research Center and Edwards Air Force Base will follow in 2023 to ensure the aircraft works as designed. From there, the agency will test over select communities across the country to see how people react.

The hope is to turn flight data over to federal and international aviation regulators in 2027, who could change the rules allowing for supersonic travel over land.

"I've always been an airplane nut and this is kind of like the best thing you could think of to do as an aerospace engineer is to be able to have a chance to design, build and test a whole new airplane, a research airplane that could potentially change the way we travel," Nickol said.

With travel times cut roughly in half, a whole new world of travel could be opened, with much of the early work done in Hampton Roads.

This story was originally published by Anthony Sabella at WTKR.