“It could provide a highly responsive capability with the potential to reach a variety of LEO [low Earth orbit] destinations and return astronauts or payloads to a U.S. runway within 24 hours,” said Chuck Beames, president of Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace. “Stratolaunch’s ability to launch from variable locations will enable satellites and humans to be efficiently inserted into their most optimal orbit at a time of the customer’s choosing.”
The first launch of the space launch vehicle is likely to take place in 2018. There are currently several launch sites under consideration, including ones at the Kennedy Space Center, Wallops Island and Vandenberg AFB. Scaled Composites president Kevin Mickey says the company has so far built “roughly 200,000lbs of composite structure” for the vehicle so far. It will be powered by six 747-class engines during its first flight in 2016 and will weigh 1.2 million pounds.
