![]() ![]() Stratolaunch calls the airplane Roc, after the giant eagle of Arabian mythology. With a wingspan of 385 feet, the dual-fuselage plane is considered the biggest in the world. Stratolaunch, based in Seattle and Mojave, designed and built a massive carrier aircraft, made to hoist rockets into the air and launch them to orbit. Stratolaunch’s Roc carrier plane, which is being groomed to haul hypersonic vehicles aloft, conducted its second-ever test flight Thursday morning (April 29). The biggest airplane ever built now has two flights under its belt. On May 31, 2019, the company announced that it would cease operations and that sale of its assets was being explored. In January 2019, Stratolaunch announced it was halting development of its air-launched family of launch vehicles. His footage is remarkable for many reasons, including the fact it depicts “Stargazer”, the last flying L-1011 Tristar, a former airliner with Air Canada, modified to serve as the launch platform for Orbital’s air-launched Pegasus rocket, for captive tests and transportation of the X-34 hypersonic research aircraft, as well as a platform for various airborne research projects.READ ALSO: Why is biochemistry importance in psychology? The payload carried by Roc can’t be seen from the angle our above video was recorded, but the following one, sent us by Misael Ocasio Hernandez, clearly shows it. One STEM Expo attendee told TheAviationist, “It’s interesting that people are outside looking at a movie prop, when the real hypersonic aircraft is actually in here!” The Talon-A hypersonic research vehicle on display at the STEM Expo of the Aerospace Valley Airshow at Edwards AFB. The Stratolaunch team displayed a full-sized Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle, which attracted plenty of attention. ![]() Stratolaunch had a fascinating display staffed with their engineers in an enormous hangar dedicated to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics curriculum for students. Members from the Stratolaunch team were also displaying down the road from the Mojave Air & Space Port in the STEM Expo at the Aerospace Valley Air Show at Edwards AFB. “This is the real Darkstar”, Squires quipped during a phone interview in a clear reference to the “Top Gun: Maverick” movie prop on display at Edwards AFB. ![]() “We liken it to the X-15”, Kate Squires told TheAviationist. Talon-A flies at hypersonic speed in the atmosphere and has a series of modular cargo compartments and flight surfaces for equipment used in various tests during high speed flight. The Mach 6+ hypersonic payload on Stratolaunch for this series of Stratolaunch Roc flights will be the Talon-A, an “autonomous, reusable testbed that makes flight testing more accessible and affordable” according to Stratolaunch. Following analysis of data and completion of other preparations, Stratolaunch could fly, “in the next few weeks”, but no date has been officially released. Squires said that Stratolaunch has, “Completed taxi testing” for this upcoming series of flights and that there is, “Quite a bit of data to plow through”. Kate Squires, Communications Leader and Strategist at Stratolaunch told us that, “A series of flights is immanent”.
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