With the billionaire’s death last year, the aircraft’s future is uncertain.
By Christian Davenport Christian Davenport Reporter covering the defense and space industries Email Bio Follow April 13 at 2:36 PM Stratolaunch, the massive aircraft dreamed up by the late Paul Allen, flew for the first time on Saturday, becoming the largest plane by wingspan ever to take to the skies.
“We finally did it,” Jean Floyd, Stratolaunch’s chief executive, said in a call with reporters. He said it was inspiring “to see Paul Allen’s dream come to life.” Built by Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, Stratolaunch was designed to carry as many as three rockets tethered to its belly into the skies; the rockets would then drop, ignite and shoot off into space with their payloads.
“The capabilities of these small satellites is something that’s really interesting and fascinating,” he said. “Both for communications, where a lot of people are putting up constellations of satellites, and for monitoring the challenged health of the planet.” The company was even thinking about human spaceflight and had preliminary plans to develop a mini space shuttle called “Black Ice.”Stratolaunch makes its historic first flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port. Despite Stratolaunch’s uncertain future, company officials said they were celebrating Saturday’s flight.
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