“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)

An arm holding a giant gun appears to explode through a wall, while elsewhere a man walks a tiger on a leash. These breathtaking pencil drawings are the work of 31-year-old artist Ben Heine, who lives and works in Rochefort, Belgium. The “anamorphic illusions”, part of the artist's “Pencil Vs Camera” series, appear slightly distorted unless viewed from the exact same perspective in which they were created. Photo: Visual artist Ben Heine at work in his studio while he creates one of his “anamorphic illusions” in Rochefort, Belgium. (Photo by Ben Heine/Barcroft Media)

“Ben Heine (born 12 June 1983 Abidjan, Ivory coast) is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist. Starting as a painter and political cartoonist, he became more widely known in 2011 for his “Pencil vs Camera” and “Digital Circlism” projects”. – Wikipedia (Photo by Ben Heine; Source: Flickr)

Sculptor Ben Young (previously) just unveiled a collection of new glass sculptures prior to the Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design (SOFA) Fair in Chicago next month. Young works with laminated clear float glass atop cast concrete bases to create cross-section views of ocean waves that look somewhat like patterns in topographical charts. The self-taught artist is currently based in Sydney but was raised in Waihi Beach, New Zealand, where the local landscape and surroundings greatly inspired his art.

A Cambodian villager rides a buffalo during the Pchum Ben festival, the festival of death, at Vihear Suor village in Kandal province on October 1, 2016. Thousands of Cambodians descended on the small village northeast of the capital on October 1 to cheer on the annual water buffalo race that marks the end of the 15-day festival for the dead. (Photo by Chor Sokunthea/AFP Photo)

These rare photos capture the Flight Deck (cockpit) of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, fully powered for one of the final times. Just a few weeks later, at 9:58am EDT on May 11, Endeavour was powered down for the final time in history. It was the last of the three space shuttles to have power. Below, other views show the mid-deck, gutted of its lockers and storage areas, and three final photos show the white room entrance in the Orbiter Processing Facility, signed by thousands over the years.

It looks like a kiss but this male and female blackbird were fighting in flight in Charlton Adam, Somerset, South West England in July 2022. (Photo by Ben Pulletz/Solent News)