World’s Largest Airplane Ready for Testing
The world’s biggest airplane has been shown to reporters in the United States.
The plane, called Stratolaunch, is set to begin testing in the coming weeks.
Stratolaunch weighs about 227,000 kilograms. It has the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever built. It measures 117 meters from one end to the other.
To support its size and weight, Stratolaunch has 28 wheels. The plane can hold more than 113,000 kilograms of fuel. It is powered by six engines made for Boeing 747 aircraft.
The plane was built for Stratolaunch Systems, a business owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Allen started the company in 2011 with the hope of building aircraft to launch rockets into space.
Allen says he first became excited about space exploration after watching Russia’s Yuri Gagarin become the first man to travel to space in 1961.
Stratolaunch Systems is attempting to ease low Earth orbit (LEO) access and provide services such as launching satellites.
“I would never have imagined that, more than 50 years later, access to low Earth orbit would still be costly, complex and difficult,” Allen wrote in a blog post. “I am determined to change this to help maximize the potential of space to improve life here on Earth.”
The aircraft is to begin fuel, ground and flight line tests in the coming weeks. The first launch demonstration is not expected before 2019.
