World's Largest Airplane Makes Talon-A Test Vehicle Flight

The captive carry test flight was the eighth for Stratolaunch’s Roc, testing its inflight launch capability.

Friday, October 28, 2022 at 12:15 PM ET

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The world’s largest airplane made its eighth flight Friday, its first ever with the Talon-A Test Vehicle. [File Photo Courtesy: Stratolaunch]

Key Takeaways:

Stratolaunch's "Roc," the airplane with the world’s largest wingspan, conducted its first-ever captive carry test flight over the Mojave Desert.
The flight involved carrying a Talon-A separation test vehicle, which is a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed.
The primary focus of the test was to measure aerodynamic loads on the Talon-A while mated to Roc and to validate the aircraft's sophisticated payload release system.
This milestone advances Stratolaunch's business model of launching autonomous, rocket-powered, hypersonic testbeds from high altitudes.

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Stratolaunch, the airplane with the world’s largest wingspan, conducted a first-ever captive carry test flight with a separation vehicle Friday over the Mojave Desert.

The Talon-A is a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed vehicle. It is critical to the mission of the airplane known as Roc, and will be used to test and validate the aircraft’s sophisticated payload release system.