Flew For 3 Hours And 14 Minutes At A Maximum Altitude Of 14,000 Ft

The Scaled Composites Model 351 Stratolaunch is flying again... for the second time in as many years.

Called the 'Roc', it is nicknamed after Sinbad's Roc, the mythical bird so big it could carry an elephant.

First flown on April 13, 2019, the company soon announced that it would halt development of the aircraft--destined to be first in a family of air-launched launch vehicles, after the loss of Stratolaunch founder Paul Allen in the fall of 2018.

A month later, the company shut down, pending a sale or additional financing.

Cerberus Capital Management took on Stratolaunch Systems, including the Stratolaunch aircraft in October 2019, and stated that it would be offering high-speed flight test services with the aircraft.

The company is also working on the development of the Talon-A reusable, rocket-powered, hypersonic flight vehicle.

The company announced the flight on social media...

"Today was a great day at Stratolaunch. After a two year hiatus, we flew our carrier aircraft, Roc, for 3 hours and 14 minutes at a maximum altitude of 14,000 ft and a maximum airspeed of 178 kts. We will continue to make improvements to Roc as we expand its envelope. By early next year we will have a Talon A drop test vehicle hanging from Roc as we begin getting ready to provide a hypersonic flight test service to the nation. Nice job Ivan, Gidro, Jake, and the entire Stratolaunch team! Ite Citius! #Stratolaunch #hypersonics"

FMI: www.stratolaunch.com