Stratolaunch Systems

35°02′53.6064″N 118°08′31.9524″W / 35.048224000°N 118.142209000°W / 35.048224000; -118.142209000

Stratolaunch LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryAerospace
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011) as Stratolaunch Systems Corp.
HeadquartersMojave Air and Space Port
Mojave, California, U.S.
Key people
Zachary Krevor (CEO)
ProductsFlight test services
Number of employees
360 (December 2023)[1]
ParentCerberus Capital Management[2]
Websitestratolaunch.com

Stratolaunch LLC is a private American aerospace company providing high-speed flight test services. It was founded in 2011 to develop a new air-launched space transportation system, with its corporate headquarters in Seattle.[3][4] The company and development project were announced in December 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, who had previously collaborated on SpaceShipOne.[5] After ten years, the company was acquired in 2019 by Cerberus Capital Management and has continued privately funded, operating as a non-traditional defense contractor.

Comparison between five of the largest aircraft:
  Stratolaunch
  Airbus A380-800
  Antonov An-225 Mriya
  Boeing 747-8
  Hughes H-4 Hercules

The project began with three components: a carrier aircraft being built by Scaled Composites (model Stratolaunch, called "Roc"[6]), a multi-stage payload launch vehicle launched at high altitude into space from under the carrier aircraft, plus a mating and integration system by Dynetics.[7] However, only the carrier aircraft was fully developed by the time of Paul Allen's death in late 2018.

The carrier aircraft first flew in April 2019, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, reaching 15,000 ft (4,600 m) and 190 mph (305 km/h) during a 2 hour 29 minute flight.[8][9]

Stratolaunch underwent a change of ownership and direction when Jean Floyd took over as CEO in 2019, reacquiring staff and growing to 87 employees by the beginning of 2020. Dr. Zachary Krevor has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratolaunch, LLC since March 2022. Prior to becoming President and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Krevor was the Vice President of Engineering at Stratolaunch Systems Corporation.

  1. ^ @WJeanFloyd (December 10, 2019). "Stratolaunch grew from 13 to 87 employees over the past 2 months. 2020 will be a great year" (Tweet). Retrieved December 11, 2019 – via Twitter.[unreliable source?]
  2. ^ "Buyer of Paul Allen's Stratolaunch space venture is secretive Trump ally". geekwire.com. December 11, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  3. ^ "Stratolaunch". www.stratolaunch.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  4. ^ "Paul Allen's Vulcan Aerospace is now Stratolaunch, with a redesigned website". GeekWire. April 1, 2017. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  5. ^ "Revolutionary Air-Launched Commercial Rocket to Orbit Announced by Microsoft Billionaire Paul Allen - Universe Today". December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  6. ^ Alan Boyle (June 16, 2022). "Stratolaunch ascends to new heights with successful test of world's biggest airplane". GeekWire.
  7. ^ "Welcome huntsvillenewswire.com - BlueHost.com". www.huntsvillenewswire.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  8. ^ "Stratolaunch becomes world's largest aircraft to fly". Flightglobal. April 13, 2019. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  9. ^ "Maior avião do mundo decola na Califórnia". G1 (in Portuguese). April 13, 2019. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.