The Lockheed SR-71, secretly designed in the late 1950s, can fly close to the edge of space and is faster than a rocket. To this day, it still holds the record for altitude in level flight and fastest speed for a non-rocket-powered aircraft.

The SR-71 was a member of a family of spy planes built to venture into enemy airspace without being shot down or detected, in an era before satellites or drones. .

The jet-black skin, designed to dissipate heat and earn it the “Blackbird” nickname, combined with the smooth lines of the long fuselage, makes the SR-71 look like nothing else. nothing that has ever appeared before – a design that has lost none of its impressive beauty over time.“It still looks like something from the future, even though it was designed in the 1950s,” said Peter Merlin, an aviation historian and author of “The Design and Development of the Black Bird.” “Because of the curved fuselage, along with the curves and twists in the wings, it has an organic beauty rather than a mechanical one. Most regular airplanes look like someone built them, but this one looks like it developed itself.”

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