Offbeat Get a closer look at Paul Allen's crazy Stratolaunch plane

[Mark]

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's mind-bogglingly huge Stratolaunch airplane rolled out from its hulking hangar recently.

The Stratolaunch has a 385-foot (117-meter) wingspan, a tail height of 50 feet (15 meters) and a matching pair of fuselages that measure 238 feet (73 meters) in length. All that bulk requires a lot of wheels. The Stratolaunch has 28 of them.

The plane is designed to carry a rocket high up into the sky. The rocket would then disengage, fire its engines and head off towards space with the aim of reaching low Earth orbit.

The first Stratolaunch takeoff should happen sometime in 2017, but we'll have to wait until around 2019 before the big bird is ready for a rocket-launch test. Allen hopes the deployment of the Stratolaunch will offer an easier and more efficient way to get satellites into orbit.

Get a closer look at Paul Allen's crazy Stratolaunch plane

 

[Mark]

Stratolaunch Aircraft Hits Another Milestone with Completion of First Phase of Engine Testing
9/19/2017

"The Stratolaunch team is proud to announce that our aircraft is one step closer to providing convenient, reliable, and routine access to low Earth orbit.

We hit another important milestone this week by completing the first phase of engine testing. For the first time we started the aircraft’s six Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines.

Engine testing was conducted with a build-up approach and consisted of three phases. First as a ‘dry motor,’ where we used an auxiliary power unit to charge the engine. Next, as a ‘wet motor,’ where we introduced fuel. Finally, each engine was started one at a time and allowed to idle. In these initial tests, each of the six engines operated as expected."

Stratolaunch News

 

[Deleted member 25]

Does it have two cockpits ?

 

[PanterroR]

Does it have two cockpits ?

Good question for many reasons...