posted by elvis_crabs #
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Founded by the same team that won the Ansari X Prize in 2004, Microsoft gazillionaire Paul G. Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan started Stratolauch Systems in 2011.
The purpose of Stratolaunch is to create an air launch-to-orbit vehicle for commercial space travel. The company is a joint venture between Scaled Composites (who is creating the carrier aircraft), SpaceX (who is creating the multi-stage launch vehicle, and Dynetics (designing the mating and integration system). Test flight for the aircraft is set for 2015, and test launch of the rocket (a SpaceX Falcon-9) is set for 2016.
Stratolauch Systems, headquartered in Huntsville, AL, does test flights out of the Mojave Air and Spaceport.