Burt Rutan, Microsoft co-founder to build largest aircraft ever

Aerospace engineering legend Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen are partnering in a new space tourism venture that will see them design and build the largest aircraft ever made.

Allen and Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first privately-funded, manned rocket ship to fly beyond earth’s atmosphere, are developing a revolutionary approach to space transportation: an air-launch system to provide orbital access to space with greater safety, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.

The project is the brainchild of Allen’s new Huntsville, Alabama-based company Stratolaunch Systems, which will build a mobile launch system with three primary components: a carrier aircraft, a multi-stage booster, and a mating and integration system allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry a booster weighing up to 490,000 pounds.

The planned size and scope of the carrier aircraft, to be built by Scaled Composites, is impressive, to say the least. It will be powered by six Boeing 747 engines, boast a wingspan of more than 380 feet, require a 12,000 feet runway for take-off and landing, have a gross weight of more than 1.2 million pounds, and will be able to fly up to 1,300 nautical miles to the payload’s launch point. To put that into perspective, the Howard Hughes-designed H-4 Hercules' (aka the Spruce Goose) wingspan is 319 feet.

The mammoth aircraft, which Stratolaunch plans to fly for the first time within five years, will be built in a soon to be built Stratolaunch hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port, near where Scaled Composites built SpaceShipOne.

Rutan, who has joined Stratolaunch Systems as a board member, said he’s thrilled to be working with Allen again.

“Paul and I pioneered private space travel with SpaceShipOne, which led to Virgin Galactic’s commercial suborbital SpaceShipTwo Program,” the aviation legend at a press conference in Seattle. “Now, we will have the opportunity to extend that capability to orbit and beyond.

“Paul has proven himself a visionary with the will, commitment and courage to continue pushing the boundaries of space technology. We are well aware of the challenges ahead, but we have put together an incredible research team that will draw inspiration from Paul’s vision.”

“Scaled is all about achieving milestones and pursuing breakthroughs, and this project offers both – building the largest airplane in the world, and achieving the manufacturing breakthroughs that will enable Scaled to accomplish it,” Scaled Composites President Doug Shane added. “We are thrilled to be a part of this development program.”
 
As well as Rutan, Allen has enlisted the services of several former senior NASA employees on the project, including appointing former chief engineer Gary Wentz as Stratolaunch Systems CEO and President. Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin joins Rutan on the company’s board.

(Stratolaunch Systems)

The Stratolaunch system will eventually have the capability of launching people into low earth orbit. But the company is taking a building block approach in development of the launch aircraft and booster, with initial efforts focused on unmanned payloads. Human flights will follow after safety, reliability and operability are demonstrated.

“I have long dreamed about taking the next big step in private space flight after the success of SpaceShipOne – to offer a flexible, orbital space delivery system,”Allen said. “We are at the dawn of radical change in the space launch industry. Stratolaunch Systems is pioneering an innovative solution that will revolutionise space travel.”

CAPTION: The Spruce Goose. (FAA)