Stratolaunch Systems

Stratolaunch LLC is an American aerospace company providing high-speed flight test services. It was originally formed in 2011 to develop a new air-launched space transportation system, with its corporate headquarters located in Seattle, Washington. The company and development project were officially announced in December 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, who had previously collaborated on the creation of SpaceShipOne. The project originally had three primary components: a carrier aircraft being built by Scaled Composites (model Stratolaunch, called "Roc"), a multi-stage payload launch vehicle which was to have been launched at high altitude into space from under the carrier aircraft, plus a mating and integration system by Dynetics. Ultimately, 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 and in a 2 hour 29 minute flight. Stratolaunch underwent a change of ownership and major change of direction in mid-2019 as the assets of the company were put up for sale, and some sources suggested that Stratolaunch could cease operations completely. The new owner was identified in December 2019 to be Cerberus Capital Management. CEO Jean Floyd announced that Stratolaunch reacquired staff in the fourth quarter of 2019, growing to 87 employees by mid-December and forecasting a "great year" in 2020 providing high-speed flight test services. The project was started in 2010, almost a year before the public announcement was made. Development costs were initially projected to be US$300 million in 2011. Dynetics actually began work in early 2010 and had approximately 40 employees working on the project . Dynetics was cited as "responsible for the total systems engineering, integration and testing, which includes aerodynamics, loads, and interfaces". It was announced in 2011 that SpaceX was also already working on the design for the rocket-powered space vehicle components of the system, the Falcon 9 Air.