On Saturday morning, the largest aircraft in the world, Stratolaunch, made its first flight. The machine, weighing almost 227 tons and with a wingspan of 117 meters, took off at approximately 17:00 Moscow time from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, USA. The first flight lasted almost two and a half hours and ended with a successful landing at about 19:30 Moscow time.
The launch comes just three months after Stratolaunch Systems, for which the plane was developed by Scaled Composites, laid off more than 50 employees and stopped trying to build its own rockets. The change in plans was prompted by the death of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who founded Stratolaunch Systems in 2011.
The world's largest airplane takes flight! @Stratolaunch @NASASpaceflight #stratolaunch pic.twitter.com/jmLs3mpztn
β Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) April 13, 2019
With a double fuselage, Stratolaunch is designed to fly at altitudes of up to 10 meters, where it can release space rockets that can then use their own engines to enter orbit around the Earth. Stratolaunch Systems already has at least one client, Orbital ATK (now a division of Northrop Grumman), which plans to use Stratolaunch to send its Pegasus XL rocket into space.
The Rock has landed! My heartfelt congratulations to everyone at @Stratolaunch! @NASASpaceflight #stratolaunch pic.twitter.com/g8RwZyVbvA
β Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) April 13, 2019
Prior to today's launch, the aircraft had undergone a number of additional tests over the past several years, including its first flight out of the hangar and engine test in 2017, as well as several test runs on the Mojave runway at various speeds over the past two years.
Source: 3dnews.ru