Tag: vulcan aerospace
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Stratolaunch rebuilds team for the world’s biggest plane after Paul Allen’s death
Stratolaunch’s six-engine, twin-fuselage airplane makes its first flight in April. (Stratolaunch Photo) Stratolaunch is hiring — nearly a year after the death of its billionaire backer, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and five months after the company’s monster plane took its first and only test flight. Allen founded the venture in 2011, with the goal of…
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Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch space venture puts monster plane through first taxi test
The world’s biggest airplane taxis along the Mojave Air and Space Port’s runway during a ground test conducted by Stratolaunch. For a size comparison, note the pickup truck driving between the plane’s twin fuselages. (Paul Allen via Twitter) That’s one more not-so-small step for Stratolaunch’s giant airplane: The space venture’s founder, software billionaire Paul Allen,…
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Paul Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace is now Stratolaunch, with a redesigned website
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s space venture is rebranding itself and updating its website as it prepares to begin flight tests of the world’s biggest airplane. The venture was launched in 2011 as Stratolaunch Systems, but over time it morphed into Vulcan Aerospace, with Stratolaunch Systems as a subsidiary. Now it’s officially known as Stratolaunch, period.…
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Billionaire Paul Allen hopes his ‘ginormous’ Stratolaunch plane will fly this year
Paul Allen stands on the wing of the giant Stratolaunch plane during a tour of the hangar in Mojave, Calif., where the craft is being assembled. The plane’s tail is in the background. (Paul Allen via Twitter) The world’s biggest airplane is staying on track to take to the air for the first time by the…
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Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch teams up (again) with Orbital ATK on air-launched rockets
An artist’s rendering shows the Stratolaunch twin-fuselage airplane with Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL air-launch vehicles slung underneath. (Credit: Vulcan Aerospace) Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems has renewed its partnership with Orbital ATK on a platform that will make use of the world’s biggest airplane to launch rockets into orbit. Allen started up Stratolaunch five…
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Internal email: Paul Allen’s top space exec Chuck Beames leaving Vulcan Aerospace
Vulcan Aerospace’s Chuck Beames talks about spaceflight during a 2014 panel discussion in Mojave, Calif., marking the 10th anniversary of SpaceShipOne’s flights. (XPRIZE via YouTube) Aerospace veteran Chuck Beames is leaving his post as president of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s spaceflight company, Vulcan Aerospace. Word of Beames’ departure came from Allen in an internal email…
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Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch lifts veil on world’s biggest plane — a giant bet on a new way to space
This view of Stratolaunch Systems’ hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in California shows the massive airplane’s left-side fuselage and scaffolding. At least six people are in the picture. To spot them, click on the image and look for the red circles in an enlarged version. (Credit: Vulcan Inc.) MOJAVE, Calif. – When you walk…
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Billionaire Space Club pits Elon Musk vs. Jeff Bezos vs. Richard Branson vs. Paul Allen and more
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (in hat and sunglasses) pops open a bottle of champagne after Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket landing in November. (Credit: Blue Origin) When Jeff Bezos welcomed SpaceX to the rocket landing “club” last week, it set off a round of twittering over whether Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and fellow billionaire…
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Lawmakers geek out over Washington state’s rising space industry
Employees at Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Wash., cheer as they watch the landing of the company’s New Shepard test spaceship on Nov. 23. “How do we steal that video?” Lt. Gov. Brad Owen joked after watching a clip showing the celebration. (Credit: Blue Origin) Washington state legislators got an introduction to the state’s space…
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Work continues on Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch plane, but rocket plans are still under wraps
Stratolaunch Systems’ twin-fuselage jet is shown under construction inside a hangar in Mojave, Calif. Vulcan Aerospace released the photo in April. (Credit: Vulcan Aerospace) The world’s largest airplane is taking shape for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace venture, but it’s not yet clear what kind of rocket would be launched from the Stratolaunch super-jumbo jet.…