The SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane Flew Faster Than You Could Imagine "The cockpit also got very hot when flying at high speeds, so much that pilots used to warm up their meal on long missions by pressing it against the glass." Here's What You Need to Remember: The Air Force first retired the SR-71 in 1990. Satellites and later drones assumed its reconnaissance mission. After a brief return to military service in the mid-1990s, a few SR-71s lingered as NASA test assets, finally transferring to museums in 1999. Twenty years after its final retirement, the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane still is the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever.