According to recent reports, Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird #844 is being prepared for a possible return to flight after 27 years.
Former NASA employees have reported being contacted about working on the project over the course of the summer, although NASA itself has yet to make any related statement. It appears that the effort could be related to a new X-Plane project that was teased by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a recent All-In Summit in Los Angeles. To date nothing has been confirmed.
#844 (S/N 61-7980) was the final SR-71A built. It served as one of two Blackbirds operated by NASA at Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center as Mach 3 research platforms. Originally designed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works for strategic reconnaissance, the two-seat, titanium-intensive aircraft could cruise above Mach 3 at extreme altitude. Under NASA it supported investigations into aerodynamics, propulsion, high-temperature structures and materials, atmospheric science, instrumentation, and sonic-boom effects.
On October 9, 1999, 844 made the final flight by any SR-71, securing its place as the last Blackbird to fly. It had been on outdoor display at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base since then, however, it vanished from the location back in May.
(Aviation Week via NY Post Photo: NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
