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NASA approaching ex-SR-71A Blackbird Staff About Restart

dsio
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This… I did not have any expectations of… apparently the last Blackbird made didn’t have its wings clipped and is theoretically able to be retuned to the air, though the list of obstacles will be enormous.

No idea why they’d ever do it other than to have a really sick, fast as hell plane for Super Bowl flyover duty but that’s a good enough reason for me.

https://aviationweek.com/defense/ai...al-former-sr-71a-staffers-help-secret-restart
 
Donn Chambers
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The current NASA administrator is very interested in supersonic flight and apparently he thinks taking the old NASA 71a out of mothballs will help with that. Seems like a waste of money and time to me - NASA already has a more advanced supersonic aircraft (the X-59). But it doesn’t go faster than about Mach 1.5, so that may be the “rationale” for pulling the SR-71 out; it can go faster.
 
dsio
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Donn Chambers Donn Chambers
The current NASA administrator is very interested in supersonic flight and apparently he thinks taking the old NASA 71a out of mothballs will help with that. Seems like a waste of money and time to me - NASA already has a more advanced supersonic aircraft (the X-59). But it doesn’t go faster than about Mach 1.5, so that may be the “rationale” for pulling the SR-71 out; it can go faster.
Just imagine, they paint it in a Stars and Stripes livery, and have it going over the US Grand Prix at CoTA though.

It was sad that the British Vulcan had its last flight in 2015 and there are some other really special planes I hope stay airworthy like the Beechcraft Starship. It’s just such a cool thing even if satellites make it useless for anything other than showing off.
 
josiahg52
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Yes, no. 844, an aircraft thst NASA has a lot of experience with. There's nothong like it still. A crewed, air breathing, completely reusable, runway takeoff and landing, payload capability, Mach 3+ sustained at >80k feet, vast (historical) operating experience and knowledge.

Won't be easy, though. All of that experience knowledge, flight suits, engine expertise, parts and maintenance skills, etc. are stale so it is a large undertaking. Making the airframe itself opwravle is probably the easy part. NASA is interested in rekindling the X program in order to make supersonic travel common place and efficient and also further extend our routine operating envelope into near space and space itself.
 
elephantcage
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The sr 71 will never again be used to collect imagery. And only the current admin in the US would be short-sighted enough to use one for publicity, etc. Only an imbecile would waste money in such a way. Oh wait....
 
josiahg52
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elephantcage elephantcage
The sr 71 will never again be used to collect imagery. And only the current admin in the US would be short-sighted enough to use one for publicity, etc. Only an imbecile would waste money in such a way. Oh wait....

That's not the proposed use at all in any fashion. It is to be used as a test bed to further ultimately hypersonic research. Nothing is cheap, but if you were proposing to design a new airplane from scratch that could take two people and a useful experimental payload from a runway to sustained Mach 3+ at 80,000 feet, recover to the runway, get serviced and do it again, the development program would likely be enormous.

Amazing how people's bias makes them so blind, one tone, and boring.
 
bsowers34
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elephantcage elephantcage
The sr 71 will never again be used to collect imagery. And only the current admin in the US would be short-sighted enough to use one for publicity, etc. Only an imbecile would waste money in such a way. Oh wait....
Yeah, sounds like it.
 
Felix_La_PuBelle
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They probably have to pull it out to teach a younger generation how to build something this insane and audacious and groundbreaking in the physical world.

Or they need to get a couple test flights in to feed all the flight data into AI.
 
pdxleaf
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How about faster trains instead of planes that needed special fuel that leaked all over the ground and pilots who needed to wear space suits? Maybe they'll use coal to fire the engines.

Who's biases are showing now?
 
elephantcage
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I predict one sr71 sortie for every Trump class destroyer completed.

HEY, in addition to using the Arch d Trump as a sniper emplacement and munitions depot we could use it as a control tower for sr71 traffic.
 
Felix_La_PuBelle
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They might be resurrecting G.I. Joe platforms. I had this as a kid.
IMG_7763.webp


If so then I’m looking forward to the x-29 returning to the skies.
IMG_7761.webp IMG_7766.webp
 
pdxleaf
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elephantcage elephantcage
I predict one sr71 sortie for every Trump class destroyer completed.

HEY, in addition to using the Arch d Trump as a sniper emplacement and munitions depot we could use it as a control tower for sr71 traffic.

Your bias is showing. It'd be funny if it wasn't so accurate.
 
pdxleaf
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Felix_La_PuBelle Felix_La_PuBelle
They might be resurrecting G.I. Joe platforms. I had this as a kid.
IMG_7763.webp


If so then I’m looking forward to the x-29 returning to the skies.
IMG_7761.webp IMG_7766.webp
You reminded me that I have these:

20260929_091025.webp 20260929_091817.webp

The flown flag is pretty rare.
I had a flown flag from a SR 71 that I stupidly sold. 🤦
 
Felix_La_PuBelle
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
You reminded me that I have these:

20260929_091025.webp 20260929_091817.webp

The flown flag is pretty rare.
I had a flown flag from a SR 71 that I stupidly sold. 🤦
Those are great. That upper photo of the Blackbird is seared into my mind. I remember taking it upon myself to "study" before I went to Space Camp in the late 80s. I went to the library and pulled books on the x-experimental jet program going back to the x-1 and NACA.

I have since forgotten most the stats I memorized about the x-1, x-3, x-15 and what lead to achievements like the Blackbird. As I got older I lost track of the x plane developments, but I recall the x-38 was to research an emergency re-entry vehicle for a space station. It looked like an economy sized Space Shuttle.

To my dismay there was no test on the x planes at Space Camp.
 
BlackTalon
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elephantcage elephantcage
HEY, in addition to using the Arch d Trump as a sniper emplacement and munitions depot we could use it as a control tower for sr71 traffic.
Lincoln Memorial serves a much better sniper base, as it has 360 degree field of DC plus the bridge. It's been used as such for many decades. No good for munitions storage though, unless they built something recently as part of the underground museum.
 
Waltesefalcon
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I think that for a super sonic test bed, putting 844 back into service makes more sense than trying to build a new airframe that could come close to replicating what the Balckbird is capable of.
 
elephantcage
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
Your bias is showing. It'd be funny if it wasn't so accurate.
I loved the sr71. Sexiest plane ever made...sexier than the f4, and that's saying something, but in this century, it is not the right plane for the job. Hell, it's not even the right job for the job. UNLESS....they could recruit OF's own Mad Dog to fly it.
 
ErichKeane
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elephantcage elephantcage
I loved the sr71. Sexiest plane ever made...sexier than the f4, and that's saying something, but in this century, it is not the right plane for the job. Hell, it's not even the right job for the job. UNLESS....they could recruit OF's own Mad Dog to fly it.
You seem to have spelled "P-51 Mustang" incorrectly there...
 
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