The Retired Widebody Airliner Now Cheaper Than Building A New Hypersonic Carrier Aircraft

Stratolaunch Systems is an aerospace company best known for operating the Scaled Composites Model 351 Stratolaunch, or ‘Roc‘, a twin-fuselage testbed aircraft that still holds the record for having the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history. The monstrous-looking aircraft was originally intended to carry air-launch-to-orbit rockets, but is now used for hypersonic vehicle testing, and it’s flown 25 times since its introduction in 2019. However, this isn’t the only aircraft used by Stratolaunch Systems.