美国有线新闻 CNN 世界翼展最大飞机完成首次试飞 可将火箭载至平流层发射

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Space investors¹ from around the world will probably have a new option for getting their satellites into orbit. It's called Stratolaunch and it's considered to be a mega jet — six engines, two cockpits, though only one is used to fly it. Its wing span² is 385 feet, which is wider than an American football field is long. This plane is longer, wider and heavier than the H-4 Hercules, also known as the Spruce Goose. And the Stratolaunch made history Saturday morning when it lifted off the ground, got up to speeds of 173 miles per hour and climbed 15,000 feet into the sky.

But you and I aren't going to fly it as passengers. This thing's designed to carry rockets loaded with satellites so they can be launched from an altitude of 35,000 feet into orbit. That can save money over ground based launches. Stratolaunch was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen who died last October. It does have competitions from other companies. And it has a series of test flights and certifications to go through before it can actually start working.