{"id":18937,"date":"2017-06-01T01:59:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T17:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/paul-allens-stratolaunch-systems-brings-monster-plane-out-of-hangar-for-first-time\/"},"modified":"2017-06-01T01:59:05","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T17:59:05","slug":"paul-allens-stratolaunch-systems-brings-monster-plane-out-of-hangar-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/paul-allens-stratolaunch-systems-brings-monster-plane-out-of-hangar-for-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Allen\u2019s Stratolaunch Systems brings monster plane out of hangar for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_336015\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-336015\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-336015\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-stratolaunch-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"Stratolaunch airplane\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-stratolaunch-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-stratolaunch-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-stratolaunch.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-336015\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view shows the Stratolaunch airplane outside its hangar for the first time. The twin-fuselage aircraft is the world\u2019s largest airplane, measured by wingspan. (Stratolaunch Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire\u2019s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStratolaunch came out of the hangar for fuel testing,\u201d Allen said in a tweet&nbsp;that featured an aerial photo of the plane. More pictures were posted to Stratolaunch\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch CEO Jean Floyd said the plane\u2019s emergence from its hangar at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port was part of a \u201cmajor milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable and routine access to low Earth orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The plane is designed to carry up to three Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rockets at a time into the air, and then set them loose to launch payloads into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s outing signaled that the aircraft\u2019s initial construction phase is complete, and that it\u2019s ready to start ground and flightline testing. Two tugs pulled the plane out onto the tarmac in front of the hangar\u2019s roughly 400-foot-wide doors.<\/p>\n<style>.fotorama1782802610004 .fotorama__nav--thumbs .fotorama__nav__frame{\npadding:2px;\nheight:64px}\n.fotorama1782802610004 .fotorama__thumb-border{\nheight:60px;\nborder-width:2px;\nmargin-top:2px}<\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-1.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 711.111px; height: 400px; left: 44.4444px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tStratolaunch Systems\u2019 hangar doors open at California\u2019s Air and Space Port. (Stratolaunch Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-6.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 711.111px; height: 400px; left: 44.4444px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tWorkers check out the Stratolaunch plane\u2019s underbelly, and provide a sense of scale. (Stratolaunch Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat2.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 711.111px; height: 400px; left: 44.4444px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tA wider view provides a better sense of wingspan. (Stratolaunch Photo)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-1.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat2.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-3.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-4.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-5.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170531-strat-6.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 114px; height: 64.125px; left: 0px; top: -0.0625px;\"><\/p>\n<p>Over the next few days, each of the plane\u2019s six fuel tanks will be filled independently to make sure that the tanks are properly sealed and that the fueling mechanisms work, Stratolaunch said.<\/p>\n<p>Then the tanks will be drained, and the aircraft will be returned to its hangar for weight and balance testing. Over the months ahead, the plane\u2019s systems will undergo further&nbsp;checks in preparation for&nbsp;taxi tests, flight operations and airworthiness testing.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch says the first launch demonstration, involving a single Pegasus XL, will take place as early as 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The plane, built in partnership&nbsp;with Mojave-based Scaled Composites, is mostly made of carbon composite. Key elements of the craft, including its six engines and eight sets of landing gear, were taken from Boeing 747 jets.<\/p>\n<p>The Stratolaunch plane\u2019s 385-foot wingspan makes it the world\u2019s widest airplane.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the plane is capable of resting \u201cweight on wheels,\u201d Stratolaunch was able to weigh it for the first time, Floyd said in today\u2019s update. As expected, the weight came in at about 500,000 pounds. It\u2019s designed to carry 250,000 pounds of fuel, and payloads of up to 550,000&nbsp;pounds. All that adds up to a maximum takeoff weight of 1.3 million pounds.<\/p>\n<p>The advantage to Stratolaunch\u2019s air-launch system is that multiple satellites could be sent into different types of orbits during a single sortie \u2013&nbsp;with little advance notice, from any airport with a long enough runway, and with the capability to fly around bad weather.<\/p>\n<p>Floyd said the Pegasus XL is just one of the options for launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re actively exploring a broad spectrum of launch vehicles that will enable us to provide more flexibility to customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An aerial view shows the Stratolaunch airplane outside its hangar for the first time. The twin-fuselage aircraft is the world\u2019s largest airplane, measured by wingspan. (Stratolaunch Photo) Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire\u2019s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,2672,2489],"class_list":["post-18937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-paul-allen","tag-stratolaunch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}