Collaborate Disseminate
It’s not often that the passing of a medium sized company on an industrial estate on a damp and soggy former airfield in southern England is worthy of a Hackaday …read more Continue reading Runway-to-Space No More, Reaction Engines Cease Trading
After Richard Branson delivered some inspiring words from his seat aboard SpaceShipTwo Unity, he unbuckled himself and started to float around the vehicle’s cabin along with three other Virgin Galactic …read more Continue reading Virgin Galactic Cautiously Returns To Flight
To hear founder Richard Branson tell it, the first operational flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has been 18 months out since at least 2008. But a series of delays, technical …read more Continue reading Virgin Galactic’s Long Road to Commercial Spaceflight
When Paul Allen founded Stratolaunch in 2011, the hope was to make access to space cheaper and faster. The company’s massive carrier aircraft, the largest plane by wingspan ever to …read more Continue reading After Years of Uncertainty, Stratolaunch Flies Again
When Paul Allen founded Stratolaunch in 2011, the hope was to make access to space cheaper and faster. The company’s massive carrier aircraft, the largest plane by wingspan ever to …read more Continue reading After Years of Uncertainty, Stratolaunch Flies Again
Even for those of us who follow space news closely, there’s a lot to keep track of these days. Private companies are competing to develop new human-rated spacecraft and assembling satellite mega-constellations, while NASA is working towards a return the Moon and the first flight of the SLS. Between new …read more
Continue reading Phantom Express: The Spaceplane That Never Was
Deep in the mojave, the largest aircraft ever made will soon be making test flights. This is the Stratolaunch, and it’s measured the largest to ever fly based on wingspan. The Stratolaunch was constructed out of two 747s, and is designed for a single purpose: as a mobile launch platform for orbital rockets.
There are a couple of ways to measure the size of an aircraft. The AN-225 Mriya has the highest payload capacity, but only one of those was ever built (though that might change soon). The Spruce Goose was formerly the largest aircraft by wingspan, but it only …read more
Continue reading The Largest Aircraft Ever Built Will Soon Launch Rockets To Space