NASA's SR-71 streaks into the twilight with full afterburner on the first night/science flight from the Dryden Flight Research Facility, Mar. 9, 1993. Onboard were research pilot Steve Ishmael and flight engineer Marta Bohn-Meyer. Mounted in the nose of the SR-71 was an ultraviolet video camera aimed skyward to capture images of stars, asteroids and comets. This flight checked the operation of the camera to insure the air turbulence at Mach speeds and the vibration of the aircraft did not interfere with the operation of the camera. The science portion of the flight is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
