The National Space Society (NSS) hails the announcement of
Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul G. Allen Project, as a pioneering
investment in space transportation. The company has been formed
to build a mobile air-launch-to-orbit system that will include
three primary components: • A carrier aircraft, developed by
Scaled Composites, the aircraft manufacturer and assembler
founded by Burt Rutan. It will be the largest aircraft ever
flown. • A multi-stage booster, manufactured by Elon Musk’s
Space Exploration Technologies; • A state-of-the-art mating and
integration system allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry
a booster weighing up to 490,000 pounds. It will be built by
Dynetics, a leader in the field of aerospace engineering. “The
Stratolaunch Initiative is another bold step towards the key
goal of reducing the cost of space travel” said Gary Barnhard,
Executive Director of the National Space Society. “By providing
a less costly, more flexible, and timely launch capability than
existing ground-based systems,