TA-2 First Recoverable Hypersonic Flight [5:20]

YouTube ^ | May 7, 2025 | Stratolaunch

[SunkenCiv]

History has been made by Stratolaunch, a hypersonic flight test research company headquartered in Mojave, California. The fully autonomous Talon-A2, equipped with landing gear, has successfully exceeded speeds of Mach five and completed its second autonomous landing at Vandenburg Space Force Base. This mission documentary follows the first recovered flight of TA-2, the result of five years of effort and dedication marking a pivotal moment in sustainable hypersonic flight test for our country. Congratulations to the Stratolaunch team and partners on this success! Next steps: fly TA-2 again and again, increasing the cadence of hypersonic flight tests for the United States. Stay tuned as Stratolaunch prepares to fly and land TA-2 once more. 

TA-2 First Recoverable Hypersonic Flight | 5:20 
Stratolaunch | 17.7K subscribers | 57,220 views | May 7, 2025

[SunkenCiv]

• World's largest plane soars to its highest altitude yet [06/17/2022]
• Stratolaunch aircraft makes 2nd test flight over SoCal desert [04/30/2021]
• Stratolaunch to launch hypersonic vehicles from world's biggest airplane [04/01/2020]
• Stratolaunch space company denies rumors it's closing down [06/03/2019]
• The world's largest plane just flew for the first time [04/13/2019]
• Stratolaunch Abandons Launch Vehicle Program for World's Largest Airplane [01/23/2019]
• Why More Taxpayer Funding to Elon Musk's Big F-ing Rocket Would Be a Big F-ing Mistake [04/21/2018]
• Stratolaunch's Monster Jet Completes First Test-Drive Down Runway [12/19/2017]
• Paul Allen's Ginormous Stratolaunch Carrier Plane Rolls Out for 1st Time [05/31/2017]
• Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Systems brings monster plane out of hangar for first time [05/31/2017]
• This Will Be the World's Largest Plane [06/28/2015]
• Paul Allen Launches 'Vulcan Aerospace' to Boost Private Space Travel [04/16/2015]
• New photos reveal mammoth structure of Paul Allen's six-engine Stratolaunch [02/25/2015]
• Stratolaunch plane could make space tourism affordable [12/14/2011]
• Microsoft Co-Founder To Build Giant Plane To Launch People, Cargo Into Space [12/13/2011]
• SpaceShipOne soars toward $10 million X Prize as first private, manned rocket into space [10/04/2004]

[SunkenCiv]

Zoom.

[Apparatchik]

Here’s the pilot landing it:

[Ignatz]

The few remaining pilots in the Hypersonic Test Pilot pool are reportedly elated at the news.