Stratolaunch's air-launched test vehicle hits supersonic speed

Stratolaunch has finally completed the first powered flight of the Talon-A test vehicle – TA-1 – which was dropped from its carrier aircraft – the monstrous Roc – for a planned dunking in the Pacific. The flight is a milestone in the turbulent history of the company, which was founded in 2011 by the late Microsoft co-founder …

[Atomic Duetto]

Optional

Wingspan is 117m for those playing along at home.

[Andy The Hat]

Re: Optional

I think he said exactly that, to paraphrase "... the wingspan is bigger than something that is smaller."

Ok, so not exactly, or even vaguely close, but technically accurate :-)

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

controlled rendezvous with the ocean

For my next dive - I ,the fat middle-aged bloke, shall perform my famed .....

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: controlled rendezvous with the ocean

So I told the judge that my fist made a controlled rendezvous with the policeman's face. And I got 2 years...

[ICL1900-G3]

The Roc

I bet that will qualify for the 'Friends of OPEC' award!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, sounds like a brilliant plan;

* burn fuel to get the ugly git in the air

* turn on boosters and burn a lot more fuel

* than just dump it in the ocean while nothing's wrong with it but hey, testing flight, not landing yet

* greenwash it all by pointing out the wreck will act as an artificial reef

Where do I sign up?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

* greenwash it all by pointing out the wreck will act as an artificial reef

And yet everyone calls the Titanic a 'disaster', look what it did for the Belfast tourist industry

[MonsieurTM]

Bravo!

Finally, something interesting what is not based on failed Soviet projects (Starship seems to be inspired by N1, the F-35 seems to be inspired by YAK-41).

Much cheaper and safer to get into space! (As the aircraft is above the much denser atmosphere below, Max-Q issues are vastly reduced.) No need for a massively expensive and risky fist stage!

Much better for launching anything as extremely problematic acoustic environment in the payload section is vastly reduced.