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

Verified

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, completed its first-ever captive carry test flight over the Mojave Desert.
The flight involved carrying the Talon-A, a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed vehicle, to measure aerodynamic loads and validate Roc's sophisticated payload release system.
This successful test is a crucial step towards Stratolaunch's business model of launching autonomous, rocket-powered, hypersonic testbeds from high altitudes.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.