Biggest Aircraft in History to Launch Spaceships Into Orbit (Infographic)

by Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist

Date: 13 December 2011 Time: 06:14 PM ET

Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Systems plans to build a giant carrier vehicle in order to air-launch rockets to Earth orbit.

Billionaire investor Paul Allen has unveiled a new company, Stratolauch Systems, to provide private rocket launches into Earth orbit from a giant aerial launch platform made up of the biggest airplane in history. The novel launch system will use a giant twin-boom airplane with a wingspan longer than a football field and launch a rocket and space capsule designed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX. See how the Stratolaunch system stacks up in the SPACE.com infographic above.

Stratolaunch Images: Paul Allen's Giant Rocket-Launching Plane
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