Hackaday Links: October 3

If you’re interested in aerospace, there’s an excellent chance you’ve heard the rumor that NASA is trying to get its SR-71 flying again. Or at the very least, they are …. Links: October 3, 2026.

Or at the very least, they are interested in what exactly it would take to bring the iconic Mach 3+ spy plane back online. The story started a couple of weeks ago when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the agency would be reinvesting in their famed “X-Plane” experimental aircraft program in an effort to get “back in the business of flying high and fast again.” Not long after, keen-eyed observers noted that the SR-71 that had been sitting on the tarmac at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in California had been moved to an unknown location. Several individuals who worked on the plane while it was operational have since claimed NASA representatives contacted them about potentially refurbishing it.

It would be hard enough getting even a normal plane airworthy after sitting dormant for nearly three decades. But when you’re talking about a bird as rare and secretive as the SR-71, the challenges would be almost insurmountable. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some valuable lessons to be learned by studying the idea, and we imagine that’s what NASA’s really after.

The SR-71 is one of the fastest planes ever built, but it’s got nothing on an orbital spacecraft like the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which earlier this week set the record for the fastest rendezvous with the International Space Station by an American vehicle.