Hey friends.
Jared Isaacman put a silhouette on a screen in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago under the words “Rebuilding our X-plane portfolio” and told the audience that NASA wanted to get back into the business of flying high and fast.
Someone eventually asked the obvious question. Was that shadowy airplane on screen an SR-71 Blackbird?
“You sure that’s a Blackbird?” Isaacman replied.
Then he moved on.
That is a wonderfully irritating answer from a man who has flown himself into orbit with SpaceX and clearly understands the entertainment value of knowing something everyone else in the room wants to know.
Isaacman has been talking for months about rebuilding NASA’s experimental-aircraft portfolio and pushing aircraft higher and faster than the agency has flown in decades. He also singled out the SR-71 at AirVenture in July while discussing the kinds of aircraft that interest him.
The story became a bit more interesting when aviation reporters realized that a very specific Blackbird had disappeared.
NASA 844, Air Force serial 61-7980, had sat outside NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base for years. Commercial satellite imagery showed it missing from its normal position by at least May 17.
This particular aircraft was the final SR-71A produced and, more importantly, the last Blackbird ever to fly. On October 9, 1999, it climbed to 80,100 feet and reached Mach 3.21 during an Edwards air show before returning to the ground.
A fuel leak canceled its planned flight the following day, and no Blackbird has flown since.
