The world's largest plane just flew for the first time - stratolaunch-exlarge-169.jpg ...

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/busin...ane/index.html

(CNN) — After years of development in the desert north of Los Angeles, a
gigantic, six-engined megajet with the wingspan of an American football field
flew Saturday morning for the first time.

Stratolaunch Systems, the company founded in 2011 by the late Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen, conducted the first test flight of the world's largest
plane.

Basically, Stratolaunch aircraft is a giant flying launch pad, designed to
hurtle satellites into low Earth orbit. It aims to offer the military, private
companies and even NASA itself a more economical way to get into space.

"Whatever the payload, whatever the orbit, getting your satellite into space
will soon be as easy as booking an airline flight," said CEO Jean Floyd in 2018.

The aircraft's wingspan measures 385 feet -- wider than any airplane on the
planet. From tip to tail, it's 238 feet long. It weighs half a million pounds.
It's so big, it has two cockpits, one in each fuselage (but only one is used to
fly the plane.)

"It's the world's biggest airplane. It's so huge, it seems like it shouldn't be
able to fly," Jack Beyer, an aerospace and launch photographer for
NASASpaceFlight.com, told CNN on Thursday.

He's excited to witness the beginnings of the space industry's rising trend:
using jets to launch satellites.

Dozens of photographers, industry bloggers and aerospace enthusiasts gathered
this week to glimpse the unique twin-fuselage plane.

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Jack Beyer @thejackbeyer

At Mojave Air and Spaceport again this morning waiting on first flight of the
world’s largest airplane, though I’m hearing it’s been called off for today.
@Stratolaunch @NASASpaceflight

218
6:42 AM - Apr 11, 2019

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"People are interested in the first flight of Stratolaunch because they want to
see the future," Beyer said. "It's the same reason why people tune in each year
to watch the Apple keynotes. People want to see what's next."

Here's how Stratolaunch is supposed to work once the plane is fully tested and
certified: The jet, carrying a rocket loaded with a satellite, will take off
from Mojave and climb to an altitude of 35,000 feet. There, pilots will launch
the rocket from the plane on a trajectory toward space. The plane then will land
safety back at Mojave, while the rocket carries the satellite into an orbit
ranging from about 300 miles to 1,200 miles above Earth. The rocket deploys the
satellite before eventually falling back to Earth, burning up in the sky like a
meteor.

Although the cost of the airplane hasn't been made public, other details are
known.

To make it both strong and lightweight, Stratolaunch is made largely of carbon
fiber material instead of aluminum. To save money on designing new engines and
landing gear, the jet is powered by six Pratt & Whitney engines, which were
originally designed for Boeing 747s. Its landing gear, which includes a
mind-boggling 28 wheels, was also first designed for 747s.



more at
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/busin...ane/index.html




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