How the Blackbird Breathed at 80,000 Feet

If you’ve ever flown in a commercial airliner, you know it cruises around 30,000 to 35,000 feet. At that altitude, there’s still plenty of atmospheric oxygen for a standard jet engine to compress, mix with jet fuel, and ignite. But imagine taking an aircraft past 80,000 feet. Listen to this Podcast to see how this miracle of physics allows oxygen to fuel the SR-71 Blackbird engines in the stratosphere, where there is very little oxygen to be found.