SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The world's largest aircraft has made its first test flight [spacenews.com]:

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 [spacenews.com]. In January, Stratolaunch announced it was abandoning development of its own launch vehicles [spacenews.com] 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 [cnn.com].

Previously: Stratolaunch: The World's Largest Plane Rolls Out [soylentnews.org]
Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Completes Key Taxi Test Days After His Death [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission