The enormous Stratolaunch aircraft took to the sky for the second time on Thursday, flying over the Southern California desert.
Following an ownership rotation and purpose change, the six-engine jet with the world’s largest wingspan took off from Mojave Air and Space Port two years after its first flight.
“We are airborne,” the Stratolaunch company tweeted at 7:30 a.m.
Three hours later, the giant successfully landed on its 28 wheels, and Stratolaunch declared the flight test a success.
The twin-fuselage plane, named Roc, has a wingspan of 385 feet. It was created by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who passed away just months before it took to the skies for the first time in April 2019.
Allen planned to use it as a space launch carrier plane, transporting satellite-laden rockets under the center of the wing and launching them at high altitudes.
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The new management wants to use it as a carrier aircraft for the launch of reusable hypersonic flight research units.
Hypersonic flights speed up to at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.
