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NASA mysteriously trying to pull world’s fastest plane, SR-71 Blackbird, out of retirement — and won’t say why (nypost.com)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Seeing Blackbird fly again after all these years would be incredible. I'd love to know what NASA has planned for it.

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[–] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Iirc it starts nearly empty and is only fueled up in the air, so basically no way around tanker planes.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    that's apparently not true, it would take off with half fuel because the landing gear could buckle under the full weight.

    even with a full tank it could only go for about 90 minutes though so anything nontrivial did indeed require a tanker.

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