First Images Of The World's Largest Aeroplane | Gizmodo Australia

First Images Of The World's Largest Aeroplane | Gizmodo Australia

Behold the first glimpse of Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen’s crazy space venture: the largest airplane in history, a 117m wingspan beast designed to carry and launch a giant rocket to space, with a combined weight of 540,000kg! Check out these two photos. They blew my mind.

But first, watch this video to observe the tail sections on the twin fuselage.

Stratolaunch Systems, A Paul G. Allen Project - YouTube

Now look at the scale of part of those tail sections compared to the humans in the photos.

Insane. This graphic compares the Roc — as they call it — with other planes, like the 747-8, the Airbus A-380-800 or the ill-fated Hughes H-4 Spruce Goose.



If you think this will go nowhere, remember that we are talking about Paul Allen — who has more money than god — and Gary L. Wentz Jr, the project leader who was the former Chief Engineer of the Science and Mission Systems at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.