KSP 2: Launching from a SR-71 Blackbird!

I wanted to recreate one of the more interesting aircraft to come out of the Lockheed Martin Skunk works, that aircraft being the Locklheed Martin D-21, a Mach 3 reconnaissance drone developed in the 1960s, that would launch from the back of an SR-71 blackbird!
The D-21 was an unmanned scramjet drone that flew at an altitude of 90,000 feet, or 27 and a half thousand metres, and at speeds of up to Mach 3.3, making it nearly impossible to intercept.
I reckon that all of this would be a useful tool to have in KSP 2 - when multiplayer rolls around I think it would be pretty useful to have a spy drone that can infiltrate a rival space centre - and deploy an attack drone to disrupt an ongoing launch!
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My PC specs:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
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This video featured the voice acting talents of KSP KZbinr ‪@Carnasa‬:
/ @carnasa
This video is intended for audiences 13+ years old.
The song used in the intro is by the awesome Approaching Nirvana!
Check them out:
/ @approachingnirvana
The song used was Mountains (Instrumental), and you can stream it on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/track/4iGRP0...
00:00 Intro & Build
05:05 Ascent Phase
08:14 Spaceplane Deployment
11:26 SR71 Return
13:31 On Orbit
14:21 Descent to KSC
16:44 Surface Shenanigans
20:24 Singleplayer Again

[@MattLowne]

Hello! Please note that this video was recorded BEFORE the latest KSP 2 patch, so there may be bugs shown that are no longer present in the current version of the game. Enjoy!

[@egburtburt3049]

Hi matt

[@jasper2185]

Hi matt hi

[@basesixty6739]

Okay

[@boypenguin9946]

Does that mean that those really bad bugs are gone? (one of the reasons why I don’t have KSP 2 yet)

[@Jool4832]

Which bugs?

[@oriontherealironman]

If I remember correctly the real SR71 could and did successfully land with only one operational engine. So good on ya Matt!

[@vectorwt]

Yes but half of its wing wasnt ripped off

[@s4sausage135]

sr71s cant fly with 1 engine at cruise speed (mach 3.2 second fastest speed achieved by conventional plane) if they have an enging flame out or false start or smth like that the procedure is cut the other engine and restart them easyer said than done when the planes glide profile is a strangly arodynamic brick

[@QuirkyView]

7:15 I would be surprised if this idea has not been thought of already but it's worth mentioning: Control priority, each control point (probe core, cockpit, etc.) has a priority. Each player can pick a specific control point to control on a craft and if the craft has multiple, the one with the higher priority controls the craft. If the control points separate, like during an air launch, each player will stay with the craft with the control point they set themselves to control.

[@trevfris]

I cant wait to see multiplayer! That's gonna be awesome!

[@siedliko]

multiplayer ? do you really want to play with 20fps ?

[@trevfris]

@siedlikmasterek in short, yes lol. Tbh, my laptop runs the game smooth enough for me to enjoy it. Plus, I really want to build some small planes and start sabotaging my friends launches!

[@dempseywheeler3442]

@@siedliko one patch in 3 weeks after launch and the fps is already doubled 🥱 cry

[@GronGrinder]

@@siedliko at that point the game will be beyond optimized lol

[@roushino2694]

I think that Interstellar traveling will be super.

[@SebPlaySpaceflight]

This looks cool! I never really realized that the Mk2 parts looked like parts from the SR-71 blackbird This came up at 2:50 AM for me, while I was working on a space game in scratch

[@lukearchibald5548]

For me too it's 2:50 for me in South Africa

[@mcnuggets892]

Would love to see the game your working on once your done! :)

[@eldoon2576]

Ooh~ When you have a working version, send it over! I'd love to take a look, I love Scratch!

[@parzival9983]

@@mcnuggets892 mee too

[@delta9827]

@@lukearchibald5548 You have a really cool last name in your username

[@narwhalsinthetrees]

I love the way the KSC looks when you're driving around. The trees, the streets and the buildings in the background give it a really cool touch in my opinion, like in the suburbs of some city.

[@dragonfire2371]

Ksp 2 devs: we bring you multiplayer! So you can play with your friends and have fun helping eachother! Matt lown: so, you have chosen war...

[@lordvetinari1331]

Can't wait for the next generation of Blackbird! Maybe Matt can design it for Lockheed Martin and use delinquent pilots as test pilots

[@Talkingaboutfeetpersecond]

There will be no next generation

[@nukacolada9488]

The Lockheed SR-72 "Darkstar" as shown in Top Gun: Maverick is at least visually the spiritual successor and you can watch videos of the prop plane they built, here on youtube.

[@TheDainerss]

There will not be a successor or next generation. The use case for which it was built no longer exists. Satellites replaced the need for such aircraft many years ago.

[@TheDainerss]

@@nukacolada9488 unfortunately there is no real “Darkstar”, it is a fictional aircraft created for the movie. I do like that they actually tried to get us to believe anyone could eject from a aircraft at Mach 10, that was a bit over the top.

[@rbgerald2469]

​@@TheDainerss ..Anti Satellite Missiles: Am I a joke to you?

[@Carnasa]

I will have my revenge >:( be it today, tomorrow, or a year on Tuesday you haven’t heard the last from me! P.s thanks for having me on man! :D

[@_Colti_]

Carnasa it's so nice of you to support small creators like Matt Lowne!

[@cthulhuthegreat7105]

Any day is a great day whenever Matt uploads.

[@Qpex1]

yup

[@laurenclouse801]

Very true

[@YMandarin]

the epic Carnasa - Matt Loan crossover we have been waiting for since the beef between matt and beardy

[@fRiX15]

Can't wait ti see the multiplayer!

[@bigix9]

when I first saw that KSP2 has procedual wings, my first thought was "that must be the paradise for Matt"

[@JohnFallot]

6:02 I’m surprised KSP2 hasn’t explored an “autopilot” feature to avoid the situation you’re describing. Surely a game AI to either “maintain altitude” or even “return to base” should be possible.

[@Zwind95]

I recall a mod in KSP 1 where you could auto recover booster stages if you have communication and parachutes. I don’t remember the name, nor if it would work in this case with a kerbin powered aircraft.

[@IcespherePlaysGames]

Yeah, automating flights or even just being able to land boosters/spaceplanes after launching a payload was one of the things I was looking forward to the most in KSP 2.

[@eekee6034]

I think there are kOS scripts to do this. I'm told FMRS allows you to go back in time and fly alongside your past self which is not the same but also cool. Both are KSP1.

[@red_five3325]

Or, better yet, you could put the plane IN ORBIT before deploying the rocket. I can do that with my Lazybird from KSP1.

[@eekee6034]

@@red_five3325 That's all right for Kerbin launches but you can't really do that from Earth; you need more than twice the delta-V to orbit Earth. Thus, if you want to imitate real-life proposals, you're not going to want to orbit the plane.

[@eruk4678]

if I am not mistaken there is still one left at the Museum of flight in Seattle. Its a cool plane. Technically it launched from a variant of the SR-71 known as the M-21 which was a few feet shorter. Thanks for the great video btw. I know the price tag is high for the state of the game but it is nice to see you trying to be chill about it even though it is nowhere near ready for ver 1.0.

[@nickforgie4290]

Actually, the m-21 was a variant of a separate spy aircraft, the a-12. I will admit they look similar.

[@EuropeanSpaceA2]

So kind of you Carnasa to support smaller creators.

[@yeetboiaug9615]

One thing I would love in ksp 2 is the ability to like code ur things essentially. Like set a rover to move to a point on the mun and then deploy the brakes and panels. Then pick up and move again and so on. So your rovers would work like actual rovers. And imagine doing it with planes, like an automated landing when it reaches a point relative to ksc but if it looses all its fuel, it tries to glide down and might fall out the sky

[@QuadrophonicToppling]

Love that you tried to land the blackbird after the Kraken took out one engine.

[@srrich27]

Good news! The orbit line going into a new SOI bug has been fixed in the latest patch! General performance is a lot better, and the Parts Manager seems to open a LOT faster/smoother. There's still a long way to go, but it's a really solid 0.0.1 increment.

[@TavishVT]

yep. people forget that opening an alpha used to mean having a much bigger testing pool to find problems. as long as the devs utilize the alpha as such, we can expect MUCH faster turnaround.

[@theyeeterg]

my grandpa was one of the people who built the sr71 blackbird, he was one of the main architects

[@uranus5213]

Paint it like this: light blue on the part that faces terrain, so people below can't see it thinking it's sky, and paint it green on the part that stays on "top", in this way guys above you won't see it thinking it's ground

[@vooper1699]

0:19 No no no... the fastest ACKNOWLEDGED jet aircraft ever ;)

[@ewanfarley]

who knows what kind of stuff has been cooked up. could even be a mach 10 stepladder ;)

[@notfunny3397]

@@ewanfarley what are you doing stepladder?!

[@carlmichaud7916]

Once the game runs nice and along with multiplayer, I hope simulated failures become a thing. That SR71 crash land was neat😮

[@TheCountess313]

"You just got Unlaunched, Baby" needs to go on some merch.

[@mintygames945]

''You just got unlaunched baby!'' matt you are a legend

[@Dukenukem]

In real life the SR-71 afterburners engage in 1-2s delay to reduce the stresses on the frame (selfigniting Triethylborane is injected into the back of the engine to explode and ignite the engine fuel itself). Would be so cool to setup a sequence mimicking that (the faster you fly the more time is between, usually 1s on runway start and 2s midflight).

[@kevinsocher9241]

Apparently ffmpeg can remove all duplicate frames so if u run your footage through it before editing you can get whatever actual framerate u want. Something like this might work: "ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf mpdecimate,setpts=N/60/TB out.mp4" for 60 fps. btw love the content!

[@TsumeShiro]

all of us making blackbirds out here having to compete with this complete KSP2 god.

[@Kandorr617]

SO glad I watched this til the end!! Keep up the great work, Matt!

[@wxb200]

That view coming into landing was absolutely SPECTACULAR!!! Wow!

[@Mohegan13]

It would be nice if there was a way to set planes with Kerbals in, to "auto return to KSC" once separated from a second craft. Essentially let the Kerbals return the launch craft themselves so we can focus on the other stage.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Either that or having the plane stay on course and altitude, sort of like a simplified SAS that doesn't worry with simulating all the physics and stuff. Just keep the plane going straight and subtract fuel.

[@linecraftman3907]

0:28 correction, as said by lockheed - the fastest manned air powered acknowledged aircraft

[@Nurhaal]

"fastest manned air breathing". And believe me, no one is flying on craft that's match faster, it's just Lockheed bragging to keep the market hype. I would know... And the SR-71 cannot physically go faster than M3.5 It just literally can't, the Inlet spikes cannot extend any further and the super sonic boundary shock will go too deep into the intake, intersecting the compressor and causing too much turbulence. Flying that fast is beyond dangerous; we've been using Drones ever since. The men who flew the X-15 were absolute chads. Aside from manned space craft and rockets, flying that fast, sustained, in the atmosphere is just way too risky whenever we can use Drones. The DF-21 is an example of early tests of that; but we've gotten a lot better since. We've been flying SCRAM Jets since the 80s.

[@mintoc8853]

@@Nurhaal what do you mean "i would know"? Do you work for lockheed? (genuinely curious) Although you're right lockheed isn't saying anything wrong or just keeping hype either, they're probably talking about unmanned aircraft as well with that quote.

[@SamTheApe]

really appreciate your videos. the historical theme, well timed jokes, entertaining and interesting voice over, they're perfect

[@CloudedByKatana]

Slight correction, the D-21 doesn't actually launch from an SR-71, but instead it was launched by the M-21, which is a variant of the A-12

[@counterfit5]

Oh man, I should have read the year old comments before I typed basically the same thing.

[@derLauch22]

Love your Videos! I'm excited to see you play with patch1 installed,

[@nightwolf7231]

These Kind of videos help me keep faith in the game. Absolutely love your content!

[@rorybriscoe7769]

I just managed to finish my first successful Mun mission in KSP1. I had to aerobreak for 10 days and nearly blew up the crew because I didn't have enough delta v. But your videos have been very helpful nonetheless!

[@Midnight_34]

It's moon wdym mun

[@alex66438]

​@@Midnight_34 he means the mun that's what its called in ksp

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I just did a Minmus return trip with under 300 m/s dV. A couple Mun gravity assists and lots of RCS thrust to comeback.

[@MoraleIsHigh]

I saw a D-21 drone when I visited the United States Air Force Museum, and it is super cool. A lot smaller than I expected, but it is a very sleek looking aircraft.

[@eekee6034]

Beautiful plane! It's gorgeous in black with the red rocket, and that landing gear stowage always looks good. Great new Mk2 nose/tail, too. Suggestions? Smol Minmus base! The old smol Tylo base was cute. A couple of seconds delay after you right-click? Oh I'm feeling SO glad I didn't buy the game. I just could not work with that at all. It would mess with my head until I couldn't cope with it. It was definitely entertaining! :D I'll see you in the previous one, Matt! ... That wasn't that funny, was it? I'm just watching videos out of order today. But seriously, this was fun enough that it makes me want to keep watching KSP2 videos. :)

[@bennyfactor]

strongest collapsible antenna ever made on that rover

[@wageofconsent2565]

I love the D-21 so much, keep up the good builds.

[@LimeJuice0308]

The blackbird has been and always will be my favourite aircraft, it just looks so amazing to me

[@morestupidforms]

Given up on this, but have dusted off the original (I only played an early version) loving it! I cannot wait for them to get this into a better state.

[@confusedscreaming9727]

Oh hell yeah I've wanted you to do this one for years!

[@kavithasunilkumarms7423]

I am surprised you didn't upload a video talking about the new patch, especially since it fixed your biggest gripe with ksp2 (trajectory past a celestial body). Can you do that maybe?

[@arandomredarmykomrade9529]

i actually did this exact thing in KSP 1 and even had it launched from an sr-71 i made without even knowing the D21 existed lol. I used the long .75 meter booster (can't remember it's name) as the propulsion and just had the tiny little non moving solar panels mounted to the exterior which after testing had limited effect on flight performance and even tended to survive reentry somehow, which was pretty wild. i also launched it from an f104 that i made (which was somehow more effective) and later on transformed the concept into an aim-54 phoenix because i got sick of getting the thing to orbit lol, was great fun to launch and control and loved the memories this video brought back of me doing it.

[@MisterItchy]

When you said that they let you try out multiplayer, I was like ... I doubt it.

[@a_mans_emotions4757]

Can't wait to see you build entire colony's on other planets and moons. Very epic vid :)

[@kavithasunilkumarms7423]

How about you build the supposed SR 72/ Darkstar, and try and see how fast you can go with jet engines? Great vid as always

[@patricks_music]

Proximity chat in KSP2? Lol that’d be amazing. Buzz the tower: Weeeeee

[@Josh-gu9yq]

Thank you for uploading on my birthday. you made my day a lot better :D

[@MattLowne]

Happy Birthday!

[@gmtom19]

as soon as you said you had the multiplayer build I knew exactly what was coming.

[@Zoso14892]

😂😂 Honestly Matt, I'd have been disappointed if you actually DID manage to showcase multiplayer! This is what I expected from the moment you mentioned it and I'm proud of you for not disappointing us!

[@eloquentsarcasm]

Responses for the new patch have been really good so far, 300+ bug fixes or something so your efforts reporting issues are bearing fruit. If they keep this up, I might jump onboard once Science is added to the core features. I miss KSP, really hoping it gets to a properly playable state soon as there's nothing else out there that really scratches the "Kerbal itch".

[@michaelthebeast6555]

My cousin work on the skunk works b-21 project which is pretty cool

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Seeing Matt build a SR-71 in KSP2 while I'm adjusting mine in KSP1 to get a thermometer into Kerbin's upper atmosphere.

[@sharqueeshajohnalaneesha2019]

I’ve seen one of these in real life. It’s on display in the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, AL. If you’re ever in the area, it’s a great place to stop by, they have a ton of really cool aircraft on display.

[@Ph33NIXx]

I was just about to say "top secret mission, and the drone is red" but then you pointed it out yourself xD

[@Skylikesavation]

KSP 2 is really good for this given the wing system and the color customization

[@counterfit5]

Technically, the D-21 was launched from an A-12 variant designated M-21, rather than an SR-71 (which came later in the program). The M-21 was canceled after a D-21 crashed with the mothership after launch, and the LCO drowned after his flight suit filled with water once the crew landed post-ejection

[@illustration7090]

I love the blackbird so much and have seen 3 different Blackbirds, and I like the idea of placing a rocket on top of it. Might do this in KSP.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I've put a pair of rockets on mine for some extra kick in thrust. Got a couple missions in the 16-19km altitude range at the other side of Kerbin and don't want to spend days flying.

[@thegamingender6933]

hey Matt, so, fun fact with these drones. they also had rocket boosters on em when on slower aircraft. And, there was an incident when one of these fell off their pylon mid-flight, and triggered it's launch.The booster went off, but, seeing as it was only meant to be a load testing mission, guidance wasn't enabled. It then used up the fuel, and not being fast enough for it's main motor to ignite, crashed into the ground.

[@thegamingender6933]

Also, if you do read this, you should take a look at the ZEL(Zero Length Launch) aircraft.

[@DrDandan]

Love it. I made one of these in KSP, even have a vid.

[@arro_rockets]

I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be talking about multiplayer now, so cool to see!!

[@CYBRLFT]

That was a lot of fun at the end. Gives you some ideas about how fun multiplayer can be in the future.

[@cdz9400]

You just made my Saturday 10× better

[@noomrm3701]

More 'mazing Matt, marvellous!

[@Sandman-cr6zn]

The 0.1.1 patch is a massive upgrade really, can't wait to see a Jool mission on the new version, personally in the release version I had trouble getting to LKE, now I get to the Mun quite easily and the performance is several times better, almost no fps drops. Though I encountered a bug in VAB which didn't let me attach anything except struts to the vessel 😂

[@Dragon-yo1wo]

I love your videos always makes my day❤

[@yogimojo4685]

masterful flying of a single engine blackird! maybe twin craft flights like this will be able to be done using the pre programmable ressuply flight feature we've been promised with the colony mode?

[@annfranksus1531]

Role-playing would be an interesting thing to incorporate into the multi-player

[@dinodasher6036]

Hey Matt absolutely love your vids inspired me for my dream job

[@KiumarBy00]

" Numero uno for me " jajaja i love you matt🤣

[@chrisjones8741]

6:33 I really think that they should implement some kind of multi timeline system. Honestly as much as people wish for it like this I am quite surprised that they are not even trying to implement it in KSP 2.

[@DonaldRumpusDumpus]

In the words of the negotiator, “we’re still flying half a ship.”

[@TrayTerra]

18:32 plot twist, the capsule was a dev pushing themselves to land a capsule in the pool at the KSC returning from a mission.

[@VirtuReality360]

My plane obsessed ass screaming in pain from the drag the ship would cause

[@maxpollardelite]

Matt, I think it would be interesting when you do a mission where one part flies back to base that you do it spacex stream style and show both in parallel? maybe the flight back is a picture in picture on the bottom left or something? you're right the flight back isn't that interesting and it would give the illusion of them happening at the same time. Just a thought :)

[@jdotoz]

"Lost starboard engine" "Roger, starboard engine is offline" "Negative, starboard engine has left the aircraft."

[@EritoKaio]

Carnasa was doomed anyway because he forgot to orient the shuttle so it doesnt launch into the tower again! Hahaha

[@thespacepeacock]

You really had us there for a minute Matt

[@lamegrape]

I'd imagine that perhaps each person in multiplayer would control a Kerbal, and the cockpit of whichever Kerbal they are controlling determines the ship they are flying in.

[@eekee6034]

That could work well.

[@abbarahamredacted2623]

Or they could put it so you can a have a maim cockpit and a co cockpit that you set with players get wich

[@Skylikesavation]

Damn you Matt! Are you actually going to show a multiplayer thing?

[@prehistoricgames3432]

I love the video Matt very good 😃👍

[@nathanthebird4625]

"I don't want to make my landing to obvious" he says while flying a bright red supersonic drone.

[@llawliet1522]

Hi Matt! I imagine you already know this but the D-21 was originally designed to self-destruct after its mission plan had been fulfilled, so there was no need to worry about it crashing after you switched back to the SR71 :)

[@MichaelCoombes776]

The engine failure gave me RP-1/TestFlight vibes. Quite a neat mechanic there.

[@ravoniesravenshir3926]

The way I see Multi-Player working is this. Player one has their kerbals, and the other players have theirs.... they control their own kirbles, so it shouldn't matter how complicated the craft is.

[@Sajukhar]

So a fix i found to the SAS issue, is set the Authority limiters to a lower degree then stock mainly on the tailfin/canards for pitch to 10 degrees, ive had less 'flapping' as a result.

[@redactedvr8888]

The only thing I’m worried about in multiplayer is if it’s gonna be filled with trolls, that fly crafts into your stuff as you’re trying to launch them

[@samuelwright1225]

you should build a shuttle carrier aircraft

[@dmitriititov4132]

Believe it or not I have seen this aircraft/s in person. It is important to note that the d21 was not launched from the sr71 it was actually the A-12 Oxcart, love the vid btw!

[@gary2smooth]

The new update has done so much for this game, finally able to do round trips to other planets

[@lobbyh]

Amazing video matt,

[@rebelbolt]

I can't wait to see if we'll get a BD Armory type modded multiplayer

[@nova_3010]

the graphics are crazy good

[@chrrmin1979]

Whenever i air launch, i just add a ton of parachutes to the launching craft

[@Kerman_von_Braun]

yooo, hype for the MP vid

[@MinerBat]

video idea since you asked: kerbals can now walk upright in artificial gravity (it is because of mag boots, so gravity is not actually required, but it is still fun) so maybe you could make an artificial gravity station and have kerbals walk around on it?

[@vadenummela9353]

Need more KSP1 content.