"Paul Allen's Stratolaunch, the world's biggest airplane, completed a crucial taxi test just days after the billionaire philanthropist's death." foxnews.com/tech/paul-allens-stratolaunch-worlds-largest-airplane-completes-key-taxi-test-days-after-his-death
The Microsoft co-founder's humongous plane is scheduled to leap into flight soon — after a few more tests like the most recent one, where it reached 80 miles per hour on a runway in the Mojave Desert.
Sadly, Allen, who died of lymphoma on Oct. 15, will not get to see his massive creation take flight.
Stratolaunch, with a wingspan longer than a football field, two cockpits, six engines and 28 wheels, will eventually be used to transport rockets carrying satellites and rocket ships. [...] The astonishingly supersized plane has 80 miles of wiring, a 385-foot wingspan and a takeoff weight of 1.3 million pounds, according to Wired.
"You don't build [that plane] unless you're very serious, not only about wanting to see the plane fly but to see it fulfill its purpose. Which is getting vehicles in orbit," Allen told Wired magazine earlier this year.
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The world's largest aircraft has made its first test flight:
The giant aircraft built by Stratolaunch to serve as an air-launch platform made its first flight April 13 amid questions about the future of the venture. The aircraft, the largest in the world by wingspan, took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 9:58 a.m. Eastern. The plane flew for two and a half hours before landing back in Mojave, reaching a top speed of 278 kilometers per hour and altitude of 4,570 meters.
[...] [Neither Zachary Krevor, vice president of engineering at Stratolaunch,] nor Jean Floyd, the chief executive of Stratolaunch, said anything about the test flight program, including when the plane will fly again and how long the overall test program will last. The company took no questions from reporters during the call, which lasted 10 minutes.
The flight comes after a turbulent six months for the company. Its founder and principal funder, billionaire Paul Allen, passed away last October. In January, Stratolaunch announced it was abandoning development of its own launch vehicles that would have been air-launched from the plane. A company spokesman said at the time that Stratolaunch was "streamlining operations" to focus on aircraft development.
The only vehicle Stratolaunch currently plans to launch from the aircraft is Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL, a small launch vehicle that has struggled in the commercial marketplace in recent years despite the surge in interest in small satellites. The only recent customer for the Pegasus is NASA, and problems with the rocket have delayed for months its latest mission for the agency, the ICON space science satellite.
Also at CNN.
Previously: Stratolaunch: The World's Largest Plane Rolls Out
Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Completes Key Taxi Test Days After His Death
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Sunday October 21 2018, @12:06PM (3 children)
Stratolaunch 1.3 million lb (589 ton)
Antonov AN-225 maximum take off weight 1.4 million lb (640 ton) [wikipedia.org]
And a 747-8 MTOW is 975,000lb (442 ton)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday October 21 2018, @01:55PM (2 children)
It also appears that Russians are building some for a Chinese airspace company. I wonder what for...
Jokes aside, this design coupled with glider type booster landings looks very promising.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:06PM (1 child)
For faster delivery of my Chinese food: every 30 minutes i have to order more.
Me so
hornyhungry!--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @06:52PM
That's because you've been exposed to too many dank memes!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @01:39PM (3 children)
Haven't we seen this play before [evergreenmuseum.org]?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:43PM (2 children)
That flew.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday October 21 2018, @05:16PM (1 child)
Yeah, about as well as a chicken or a domestic turkey flies. Granted it did get off the ground but not very high or for very long.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 3, Touché) by martyb on Sunday October 21 2018, @05:37PM
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @09:16PM (2 children)
WITHOUT a rocket hanging underneath
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday October 22 2018, @03:21PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @03:51PM
IIUC, there aren't many launch sites above 30000 feet.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by corey on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:30PM
That realDonaldTrump is linking us to his friends at FoxNews.com.