Jack Gordon
Jack Gordon served as a senior executive at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, departing the Palmdale facility in the late 1990s. He is notable primarily for an encounter with author Nick Cook during which Gordon was observed to become visibly flustered when asked about a Skunk Works aircraft lineage entry labeled "Astra" — a triangular-shaped craft listed in the lineage chart past the Darkstar reconnaissance aircraft.
Encounter with Nick Cook
While Nick Cook, author of The Hunt for Zero Point, was visiting Lockheed's Palmdale facility and departing with Gordon, he observed a large chart on the wall illustrating the full lineage of every Skunk Works aircraft since the XP-80. Beyond the Darkstar — the aircraft prominently featured in the film Top Gun: Maverick — the chart listed something called "Astra," depicted as an ultra-high-speed reconnaissance craft that appeared triangular in shape. When Cook asked Gordon about it, Gordon became flustered and dismissed it as "an old airliner."
The chart sighting is treated as indirect evidence that Project Astra existed within Lockheed's official aircraft program lineage but was intentionally kept off public records. Gordon's visible discomfort with the question is noted as a behavioral indicator that the subject was sensitive rather than merely obscure.