The world's largest aircraft test flight high 4,500m

Roc transport aircraft with a wingspan of 117m, more than twice as long as conventional commercial aircraft, successfully took off for the 4th time.

Stratolaunch's Roc aircraft before takeoff at Mojave Air and Space Port on February 24.

Roc, the largest aircraft ever built by wingspan, has completed its fourth test flight. This massive aircraft was built by Stratolaunch company with the purpose of carrying and launching vehicles into the air. It has a wingspan of 117 m, more than double the wingspan of a conventional commercial airliner.

Roc took off from Mojave Air and Space Port, California, at 3:23 pm on February 24 (local time) and flew in the sky for about 1 hour 43 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 4,572 m. The flight was mainly intended to test the retraction of the landing gear and further demonstrate the aircraft's capabilities.

"Today's successful flight demonstrated and validated improvements to the transport aircraft's systems and overall performance. The landing gear contraction and descent test brought the aircraft closer to operational status. more dynamic, a necessary milestone to get it ready for the hypersonic and split tests with Talon-A later this year," said Zachary Krevor, CEO and president of Stratolaunch.

The Roc aircraft flew in the sky for about 1 hour and 43 minutes during the test on February 24.

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, founded Stratolaunch in 2011 with the desire to create a new, more cost-effective way to launch satellites from mid-air instead of using rockets. Allen died in October 2018, before Roc began his test flight program. Its first test flight took place in April 2019.

In October 2019, Stratolaunch was sold to new owners and converted to launch hypersonic vehicles. This type of vehicle can travel at least 5 times the speed of sound.

Stratolaunch is also developing its own line of hypersonic vehicles, including a reusable 8.5-meter plane called the Talon - A. This will be the first vehicle that Roc will transport. However, before this mission can take place, it needs to make a few more solo flights. Currently Stratolaunch aims to officially go into operation from mid to late 2023.