The world’s largest airplane, Stratolaunch’s Roc, completed its fifth flight from California’s Mojave Air and Space Port (KMHV) Wednesday—the first test of a pylon crucial to the carrier aircraft’s success.
Under clear skies and calm winds, Roc’s six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbofans and 385-foot wings lifted the 500,000-pound, twin-fuselage jet above Runway 30 at about 7:40 a.m. PT. In its longest test flight so far–nearly five hours–the airplane touched down back at KMHV, at 12:37 p.m. PT.