Stratolaunch has announced that it successfully completed a fourth test flight of its Roc carrier airplane, the world’s largest aircraft with a 385-foot wingspan.
The Mojave aerospace firm on Thursday said the Roc aircraft flew for an hour and 43 minutes over the desert, reaching an altitude of 15,000 feet.
Initial results from the test flight included evaluation of the aircraft’s performance and handling characteristics and validation of full landing gear operations including door functionality, and alternate gear extension, according to the company.
Zachary Krevor, Stratolaunch president, said that the test demonstrates and validates improvements to the carrier aircraft’s systems and overall flight performance.
“The full landing gear retraction and extension brings the carrier aircraft closer to operational status, a milestone that is necessary to ready the aircraft for Talon-A separation and hypersonic flight tests later this year,” Krevor said in a statement.
The Talon-A is a vehicle that is a rocket-propelled, autonomous, reusable testbed carrying customizable payloads at speeds above Mach 5. The Talon-A would be launched from the Roc, which would carry it aloft.
The company anticipates beginning hypersonic flight testing this year and delivering services to government and commercial customers next year, according to the company’s news release.
Founded in 2011 by the late billionaire Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp., Stratolaunch was sold by Allen’s investment firm Vulcan Inc. about a year after Allen died in 2018. The new owner has been identified in media reports as Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm specializing in distressed companies.