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Originally Posted by Anthony W.
The SR-71 has no mach meter redline - and with only minor midifications (RCS) could in fact go to space and back
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The SR-71's maximum altitude is limited by its turbine engines. It does hold the absolute altitude record for turbine-powered aircraft, but 85,069' doesn't qualify for the "50-mile" rule, so no, it couldn't go into "space".
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(the X-15 had RCS, and accidentally left the atmosphere at one point)
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Nothing accidental about it. TLAM's qualifiers aside, part of the X-15's program was high-altitude research. General Chuck Yeager, the personel director for the program, was the man responsible for making sure a select few X-15 pilots recieved astronaut's wings.