The largest aircraft in the world has completed its ninth successful test flight. For the first time, the Roc stayed in the air for six hours and its route extended beyond the Mojave Desert (in southern California and Nevada; ed.). Everything seems on track to eventually launch hypersonic missiles and devices via this mastodon.
The Roc has a wingspan of 117.3 meters, which is wider than a football field. Two planes are mounted parallel to each other under those gigantic wings, making the colossus look like a catamaran.
Most of the body is made of carbon. The rig is powered by six engines from a Boeing 747. The cockpit of the airship – which is located in one of the two cabins – is also recycled from old Boeing 747s. There are even analogue control and operating displays in the dashboard. In short: it is not NASA that designed this device, they are real ‘space cowboys’.
Co-founder of Microsoft
The aerospace company StratoLaunch was a project of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who was obsessed with space travel all his life. So obsessed that in 1981 – when he and Bill Gates were in the thick of developing the operating system for the first IBM computer – he took a break to attend the launch of the first Space Shuttle in Florida. Gates couldn’t help laughing.
Years later, Allen became acquainted with a revolutionary aircraft manufacturer. Bert Rutan, an Elvis fan with big sideburns who designed the strangest aircraft and also got it into the air. The Roc was Rutan’s idea, the money came from Allen. Allen unfortunately did not get to experience the first flight, he died more than four years ago.
Michael Sheetz
@thesheetztweetz
Big dream closer
The Roc can fly ten kilometers high and drop a rocket there that then shoots itself into space. In principle, it is a simpler and also cheaper way to launch spacecraft, but the competition with SpaceX (Elon Musk) and Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) is of course fierce.
Yet the big dream is getting closer and closer. A test launch of an unmanned hypersonic research aircraft was now tested for the second time. A real launch should take place in the first half of this year.
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