“The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was responsible for many of the design's innovative concepts. During reconnaissance missions the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes to allow it to outrace threats. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outrun the missile”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. Air Force SR-71A, also known as the “Blackbird”, is put through it's paces during a test flight over Beale Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is a strategic reconnaissance plane by Lockheed and is the world's fastest and highest flying operational aircraft. (Photo by Getty Images)

Recruits who earned a place in the Motivation Platoon struggle through water and muck on their way to becoming a Marine or going into some other line of work, October 7, 1971. (Photo by Eddie Adams/AP Photo)

This photograph released by Indian Space Research Organization shows its polar satellite launch vehicle lifting off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, Wednesday, February 15, 2017. India's space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket.(Photo by Indian Space Research Organization via AP Photo)

The British Breitling Wingwalkers, Danielle Hughes and Emily Guilding, soar above the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai at 1,500 feet (460 meters) in excess of 100mp/h, ahead of their Dubai debut performance at the 2014 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Powerboating Series, on Saturday, 13th December 2014. The British team is the only aerobatic formation display team who employ full time wingwalkers and fly their two Breitling-liveried 1930's Boeing Stearman bi-planes at Air Shows and major sporting events around the world. (Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga/Breitling via AP Images)

A visitor looks at a sculpture by a Chinese artist Chen Wenling at the "Sculpture by the Sea" exhibition which runs along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk in Sydney on October 22, 2015. The world's largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition runs from October 22 – November 8 this year and features over 107 sculptures by artists around the world. (Photo by Saeed Khan/AFP Photo)

Baloo (R), a North American Black Bear, rubs snouts with his companion Shere Hkhan, a Bengal tiger, inside their shared enclosure at Noah's Ark animal sanctuary in Locust Grove, Georgia, USA, 28 August 2014. According to the facility, the pair and a lion named Leo, were confiscated at a young age from a drug dealer's basement in Atlanta, Georgia. Noah's Ark cares for about 100 different species of animals on a 250 acre farm since 1990. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA)

Female North Korean traffic police officers gather in front of bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to pay their respects in Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday, February 16, 2013. North Koreans turned out to commemorate what would have been the 71th birthday of Kim Jong Il who died on December 17, 2011. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

“Attacking Howler Monkey”. Due to a major tropical rainstorm my wife and I were forced to stay overnight in a Howler Monkey Rescue center in Panama. I used the time to explore the area and to take photos of the monkeys. Just after the rain finally stopped, I ran into this monkey that tried to mock attack me. I quickly took a couple of photos before retreating to a (more) safe distance. (Photo and caption by Christian Mueller-Planitz/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

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