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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 21 2018, @11:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the RIP dept.

"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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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @09:16PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @09:16PM (#751773)

    WITHOUT a rocket hanging underneath

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday October 22 2018, @03:21PM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday October 22 2018, @03:21PM (#751998) Homepage
    Why don't they just build the rocket nearer where they want to launch it from? Or launch it from nearer where they plan on building it? Why build special mountain-carrying vehicles just to satisfy a mohammed that doesn't plan well?
    --
    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @03:51PM (#752019)

      IIUC, there aren't many launch sites above 30000 feet.