Stratolaunch 2nd Flight 04-29-2021
Stratolaunch takesoff at 7:29am on its 2nd flight from Mojave Air &Space Port, CA. 04-29-2021
The Stratolaunch aircraft N351SL flew Thursday for its second time, taking to the skies over the Southern California desert.
The six-engine jet with the world’s longest wingspan took off from Mojave Air and Space Port two years after its maiden flight, following a change in ownership and purpose.
Named Roc, the twin-fuselage aircraft has a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters). It was developed by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who died just months before it flew for the first time in April 2019.
Allen intended to use it as a carrier aircraft for space launches, carrying satellite-laden rockets beneath the center of the wing and releasing them at high altitude.
The new owners initially plan to use it as a carrier aircraft for launches of reusable hypersonic flight research vehicles.
Hypersonic describes flights at speeds of at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The flight lasted approximately 3 hours and landed safely back on runway 30. 04-29-2021
