Stratolaunch Conducts Successful Captive Carry Test Flight

The company said it is on track to perform its first hypersonic flight this year.

Monday, April 03, 2023 at 05:37 PM ET

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Stratolaunch's Roc launch aircraft takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port on its tenth flight and third captive carry with the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-1, on April 1, 2023. [Credit: Stratolaunch/Matt Hartman]

Key Takeaways:

Stratolaunch's Roc, the airplane with the world's largest wingspan, successfully completed its 10th flight, conducting a captive carry test with the Talon-A reusable hypersonic testbed.
The Talon-A vehicle is crucial for validating Roc's payload release system, and this five-hour flight collected data, practiced separation profiles, and confirmed telemetry for an upcoming release test.
Roc's ultimate mission is to serve as an aerial launch platform for small, autonomous, rocket-powered, hypersonic testbeds from high altitudes.

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Stratolaunch’s Roc, the airplane with the world’s largest wingspan, successfully conducted a captive carry test flight with the Talon-A separation vehicle Saturday.

The Talon-A is a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed vehicle. It is critical to the mission of the 238-foot-long turbofan-powered Roc launch platform and will be used to test and validate the aircraft’s sophisticated payload release system.