Stratolaunch is ready to launch twin-fuselage plane in 2019

Stratolaunch's plane will be the largest in the world by wingspan.

(Web Desk) – Stratolaunch, the company founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to develop an aircraft to air-launch rockets, has decided to discontinue development of a new group of rockets.

Stratolaunch’s twin-fuselage plane will be the largest in the world by wingspan.

Our team had another successful day of testing yesterday! Watch our #Stratolaunch aircraft reach a top speed of 136 mph during yesterday’s test: pic.twitter.com/bPn2eIInPt

— Stratolaunch (@Stratolaunch) January 10, 2019

According to SpaceNews, the spokesman of the company said in an emailed statement “Stratolaunch is ending the development of their family of launch vehicles and rocket engine. We are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle.”

Founded in 2011, the company primarily had focused to design and develop an aircraft that can take orbital-class rockets to an altitude of 35,000 feet in order to launch them above most of the thickest parts of Earth’s atmosphere.

In August 2018, the company also had planned to develop a family of its own rockets ranging from small launchers to a human-rated space plane.

However, after the founder’s death in October 2018, the company decided to abandon its project of building new rockets and engines, and instead began to focus on building the giant 385-foot wingspan aircraft off the ground and certified to launch rockets.

According to GeekWire, the company’s spokesperson said “We are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle. We are immensely proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to first flight in 2019.”

With its six jet engines, it has carried out a series of taxi tests at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where it reached a speed of about 220 kilometers per hour.

In that test the plane’s nose gear briefly left the ground in a “rotation authority maneuver” that suggested - the plane was ready to take its first flight.

“Surpassed all expectations and met every test objective,” Jean Floyd, president and chief executive of Stratolaunch, said of that taxi test in a tweet.