Oh yes I take ITER as good news, but it still leaves us 20 - 40 years from a... well I wanted to write a commercial fusion plant, however that might be a trifle optimistic.

Lets say we are at best 20-40 years from a functional prototype of a commercialy viable plant.

ITER is very much a test, any way you bend it. DEMO is waiting for ITERs outcome. Of course ITER will work, tokamaks have operated since the 1960s, that is like claiming a rocket will almost certainly fly. Yet we still stand in awe when it does.

It took 50 years from Einsteins nearly blind-guess prediction of a physical phenomenon to fission power plants. 50 years from the Orvilles hops to jet passenger planes. 58 years from Ciolkovskys crazy drawings to a man in space. In my grandfathers lifetime we went from horse-drawn carriages to the SR-71.
In my lifetime we have gone from landing on the moon to almost maybe landing there again some time.

We are slowing down or the going is getting more difficult.

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I don't know why but this video absolutely made me think about the huge cameras on photo recon satellites and U-2/SR-71s because they came digital devices...

Everything I've read about the SR-71 in the past seems to support the idea of expansion gaps being designed into the panels due to the amount of heat created from flying 3x the speed of sound.

I'm a little skeptical now that I'm older, but a few decades ago I read that the SR-71's wings actually had a small gap that fuel leaked out while at low speed/altitude. Once it got up to speed, the metal heated up, expanded, and closed the gap.

The way I've heard it, it was an SR-71 requesting clearance to Flight Level 600 (60,000 ft). Class A controlled airspace extends up to and including 80,000 ft, and the SR-71 was above 80,000 ft. and descending and needed clearance before entering the Class A airspace. The controller came back and "asked how do you plan to get up to 60,000 ft." The pilot responded, "we don't plan to go up to it, we plan to go down to it." He was cleared to FL600.

Ok, so I heard a similar story from a SR-71 pilot that went like this:

A SR-71 was entering LA control control space and was listening to the chatter of pilots requesting various altitude changes, so the pilot of the Blackbird decided to have some fun.

He called ATC and requested Angels 7-0 (I think this correct: 70,000 feet). LA control came back and said smirkingly, "Ok, if you think you can reach it, you're cleared for Angels 7-0."

"Roger LA ATC," the pilot came back, "Descending to Angels 7-0".


Dunno if it's true or not, but it's a story.

I actually did go to the Intrepid last time I was in NY (ye gods, it was 17 years ago... now I feel old) especially to see the SR 71 and the shuttle.

Bored my poor wife (then girlfriend) to tears, but it was geek nirvana for me. Totally worth it!

I just came across a really cool SR-71 story - http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-sr-71-blackbirds-most-spectacular-flyover-was-also-1719654907

It's a "surveillance plane" which means spying. Spying doesn't need to be stealthy, it just has to be effective. The Russians knew the U2 and SR-71 were there, they just couldn't do anything about it.

Well every plane has a takeoff weight restriction... but according to Jimbo's big bag'o'trivia the B1-B was strengthened fairly early in development so it could take off with a full fuel load, and they even managed that change without adding much weight.

The SR-71 on the other hand used to take off with just enough fuel in the tanks to get airborne, and then refuel in the air.

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Minor (admittedly pedantic) nit: the plane on display on the Intrepid is an A-12, not an SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 is slightly longer and heavier, and can carry a larger sensor payload while the A-12 can fly faster and higher, but they are otherwise fairly similar (the Blackbird is a refinement of the A-12).

Still the closest many of us are ever going to get to a real SR-71 though.

And I second ChaosEngine's recommendation: if you are an aviation buff, the Intrepid is definitely worth a visit. The shuttle is really impressive up close too; it's amazing they got something so big and truck-like off the ground.

It was built in the 1960s, but the actual SR-71 design and prototyping of some of the new concepts were done in the 50's.

Here's one mention of it: http://www.space.com/16666-sr-71-blackbird.html

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