U.S.
World's largest airplane is rolled out
CNN
(CNN)Even
if you had been allowed to kick the tires as the world's largest
airplane was rolled out for the first time Wednesday, it might have
taken you a while.
Stratolaunch
-- which is designed to release rockets that will carry satellites into
space -- has a 385-foot wingspan, features six engines used by the
Boeing 747, stands 50 feet tall and can carry more than 500,000 pounds
of payload.
And it has those 28 wheels.
The
twin-fuselage aircraft, the baby of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen,
was pulled out of its Mojave Air and Space Port hangar in California to
begin fueling tests -- the first of many ground tests.
Jean Floyd, Stratolaunch's chief executive officer, said the goal is to have a launch demonstration as early as 2019.
"Over
the coming weeks and months, we'll be actively conducting ground and
flight line testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port," Floyd said in a
statement. "This is a first-of-its-kind aircraft, so we're going to be
diligent throughout testing and continue to prioritize the safety of our
pilots, crew and staff."
the An-225 is about 275 feet.
CNN's Matt McFarland, Thom Patterson and Jackie Wattles contributed to this report
Also, aviation mogul Howard Hughes' legendary H-4 "Spruce Goose," which flew only once in 1947, has an enormous wingspan of 320 feet -- not as wide as the Stratolaunch.
The Ukrainian-built Antonov An-225 is longer than the Stratolaunch.
Allen,
owner of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the NFL's Seattle
Seahawks, has written about his desire to see more use of low Earth
orbit without breaking the bank.
"With
aircraft-like operations, our reusable launch platform will
significantly reduce the long wait times traditionally experienced
between the construction of a satellite and the opportunity to launch it
into space," he wrote last year.
Stratolaunch
will take off from a runway. It will fly to the approximate cruising
altitude of a commercial airliner before launching a launch vehicle. "As
the launch vehicle rockets into orbit, Stratolaunch will fly back to a
runway landing for reloading, refueling and reuse," Allen says.
Allen's Vulcan Aerospace has worked with aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, on the ambitious project.
The duo collaborated on the launch of SpaceShipOne in 2004.
Allen isn't the only US billionaire with the dreams and pockets big enough to take on space.
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO, and Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, have distinguished themselves as the must-watch innovators pushing hardest to bring the future to us today.
In late March, SpaceX made history by successfully launching a used rocket into space. And the company plans to fly two customers around the moon in 2018. It's already delivered satellites and has made resupply trips to the International Space Station.
Like
Musk, Bezos wants to reuse rockets to drive down the cost of space
travel. But for the time being, Blue Origin is mostly interested in
conducting suborbital flights for tourists.
