Courtesy: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center This 39 seconds clip shows the NASA SR-71 LASRE in flight over Mojave Desert. Two SR-71A aircraft were loaned from the US Air Force for use for high-speed, high-altitude research at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. One of them was later returned to the Air Force. A third SR-71 on loan from the Air Force is an SR-71B used for training but not for flight research. Developed for the US Air Force as reconnaissance aircraft more than 30 years ago, SR-71 aircraft were the world's fastest and highest-flying production aircraft. These aircraft could fly more than 2200 miles per hour (Mach 3+ or more than three times the speed of sound) and at altitudes of over 85000 feet. This operating environment made the aircraft excellent platforms to carry out research and experiments in a variety of areas--aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, high-speed and high-temperature instrumentation, atmospheric studies, and sonic-boom characterization. Data from the SR-71 high-speed research program was used to aid designers of future supersonic or hypersonic aircraft and propulsion systems, including a possible high-speed civil transport. The SR-71 program at Dryden was part of the NASA overall high-speed aeronautical research program, and projects involved other NASA research centers, other government agencies, universities, and commercial firms. One of the first major experiments to be flown in ...

• published: 18 Jan 2010
• views: 19700
• author: airboyd