Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane WithAn Uncertain Future

"Space launch company Stratolaunch, which the late Microsoft co-founder Paul
Allen had founded nearly a decade ago, is reportedly in the process of closing
down for good and will be selling off all of its physical assets and
intellectual property rights. The news comes less than two months after the
firm's massive Roc aircraft, the largest plane ever flown, took the sky for the
first time.

On May 31, 2019, Reuters reported that Vulcan, Inc., an investment firm that
Allen had also established to support Stratolaunch and many other projects, had
decided to shutter the space launch unit, citing multiple unnamed individuals
familiar with the plans. The War Zone also heard this earlier in the week. Allen
died in October 2018 after a battle with cancer.

Founded in 2011, Stratolaunch hoped to offer low-cost and flexible access to
space, using the Roc aircraft, named after the mythical bird of prey capable of
carrying off an elephant, to air-launch expendable and reusable space launch
vehicles. A cost-effective air-launched space access concept would allow
customers to get payloads into space on shorter notice than with traditional
rockets and launch them from the best possible location, a potential game-
changing capability that you can read about more here.

Scaled Composites, a part of Northrop Grumman, had actually designed and built
the aircraft. The plan had been for Roc to conduct its first test launch of a
Pegasus XL space launch rocket, another Northrop Grumman product, in 2020.
Stratolaunch and Northrop Grumman both declined to give comments to Reuters for
its story and it is unclear whether or not the test program will continue under
the latter company's direction, but it seems unlikely at this point."

See:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...certain-future