WASHINGTON – World’s largest plane makes first test flight
Stratolaunch makes its historic first flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. – AP
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The world’s largest airplane – a Stratolaunch behemoth with two fuselages and six Boeing 747 engines – made its first test flight last Saturday in California.
The mega jet carried out its maiden voyage over the Mojave desert.
It is designed to carry into space, and drop, a rocket that would in turn ignite to deploy satellites.
It is supposed to provide a more flexible way to deploy satellites than vertical takeoff rockets because this way all you need is a long runway for takeoff.
It was built by an engineering company called Scaled Composites.
The aircraft is so big its wing span is longer than a football field, or about 1.5 times that of an Airbus A380.
Specifically, the wing span is 117 metres; that of an Airbus A380 is just under 80.
The plane flew last Saturday for about two and a half hours, Stratolaunch said. Until now, it had just carried out tests on the ground.
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