What also impresses me, which rarely ever is mentioned in any documentary about the SR-71 is the D21 Drone.

Squadron (i think) published a very good book on the aircraft, including some pilot stories. There's one story about the Russians sending up migs and other aircraft to try to intercept the SR-71. One of these Russian crafts was a specially modified Foxbat. It was the only aircraft the Russians could send up that could come close to intercept. I think a Russian pilot defected to Japan with one of these special Foxbats. Anyway, one of the SR-71 pilots is interviewed later about a race between the two aircraft where the Foxbat beat the SR-71 but only by the numbers. Two things: the SR-71 was not allowed to go as fast as it could, and the Foxbat engine could only achieve the high speeds once, after which the engine was pretty much destroyed by the effort. But the things that impressed me was the SR-71 was never allowed to open up as fast as it could go. Documentaries only go so high as "greater than mach 3" or "mach 3+", but officially the maximum speed has never been released. Secondly, the SR-71 engines could achieve the high speeds over and over again, whereas just once was too much for the Foxbat.

I love this aircraft. The engine sucked in more air than it expelled. The oils were as hard as wax when cold. The fuels could not be ignited with a match. It took 30 minutes for the aircraft's body to cool down enough before ground crews could approach it. The pilots wore astronaught suits. The friction on the aircraft's body was so hot it glowed. Pilots used to heat up their food tubes by placing it on the windshield. It's been clocked to cross the Atlantic in less than 2 hours.

And this was 1960's technology. Imagine what they have now. I'm not surprised if the rumors of Aurora are true.