the nasp concept is thought to have been derived from the "copper canyon" project of the defense advanced research projects agency (darpa), from 1982 to 1985. in his 1986 state of the union address, president ronald reagan called for "a new orient express that could, by the end of the next decade, take off from dulles airport, accelerate up to 25 times the speed of sound, attaining low earth orbit or flying to tokyo within two hours."