An odd-looking, double-bodied airplane with a wingspan as long as a football field just took to the skies today (April 13) from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California. This was the first flight for Stratolaunch, which is billed as the world's largest aircraft.
Designed by Stratolaunch Systems Corp. to carry satellites into low-Earth orbit, the craft spent 2.5 hours in the air above the Mojave Desert at altitudes up to 17,000 feet (5,180 meters). The plane reached speeds of 189 mph (304 km/h) and performed several flight control maneuvers, including "roll doublets, yawing maneuvers, pushovers and pull-ups, and steady heading side slips," the manufacturer Stratolaunch said in a statement. "Today's flight furthers our mission to provide a flexible alternative to ground launched systems," the company said.
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