[thefurdrake]

It got below 0F a couple years ago and my garage door wouldn't open.

-200C in a vacuum is an entirely-different engineering paradigm as I understand it. Materials just don't behave the way we expect at regular temp/pressure.

[suckitsam]

There was a whole writeup (on here, IIRC) about the engineering behind the only (or one of less than a handful) types of planes that can transit Antarctica during the cold, dark months.

The fuel freezes, the oil freezes, the rubber in the tires and gaskets becomes brittle, and basically nothing normal works. I recall it being similar-but-different to the SR71 modifications, where the parts are loose and continuously leaks fluids because the materials all change shapes so much in the environment they're designed for. And of course it all has to return to the initial state for (a safe) landing.

[selectodude]

The Concorde would get something like a foot longer at speed due to the expansion of the fuselage.

[paganel]

Stupid question, and maybe I should have web searched for it, but why did the fuselage expend? Something to do with the heat generated by the high speed and hence by the high friction?

[justsomehnguy]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anachrocomputer/1829622910/

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%253Areddit.com+concorde+pilot...