Thread

NASA asked several former SR-71A staffers to help secret restart

327 points · 403 comments · ilamont

cryptonector · 1790776985 · focus · HN ↗
Why though? We have spy sats galore. We have drones galore. Why build or re-certify a spy plane? What can we get from such an expensive project that we can't get much more cheaply in other ways?
1. EA · 1790777338 · focus · HN ↗
  NASA did not use the SR-71 for the purposes you stated.
  NASA's SR-71 was used for high altitude and high speed science projects.
2. stronglikedan · 1790777443 · focus · HN ↗
  There's obviously valid answers to your questions, but good luck getting the clearance to know the answers.
3. whartung · 1790777706 · focus · HN ↗
  It’s not a spy plane. It a mach 3 test plane.
  They clearly feel it’s cheaper/faster to get this working than to try and create a new mach 3+ aircraft.
  With 25 years of new tech maybe they can push it even faster.

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