Posted on 05/31/2017 3:25:11 PM PDT by PROCON
Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire’s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time today.
“Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for fuel testing,” Allen said in a tweet that featured an aerial photo of the plane. More pictures were posted to Stratolaunch’s website.
Stratolaunch CEO Jean Floyd said the plane’s emergence from its hangar at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port was part of a “major milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable and routine access to low Earth orbit.”
The plane is designed to carry up to three Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rockets at a time into the air, and then set them loose to launch payloads into orbit.
Today’s outing signaled that the aircraft’s initial construction phase is complete, and that it’s ready to start ground and flightline testing. Two tugs pulled the plane out onto the tarmac in front of the hangar’s roughly 400-foot-wide doors.
(Excerpt) Read more at geekwire.com ...
http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/
Rebuilding a Twin Mustang
BUMP. http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.mx/
Thanks!
Consider me fully enlightened...{:-)
Is that a B-47 with JATO assist?
Burt Rutan started Scaled Composites, the company that built the Stratolaunch aircraft.
Yup.
Like the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
Thanks. This should be a featured plane on that Netflix series.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.