Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and famed aerospace engineer Burt Rutan are teaming up for space once again. This time they are heading to orbit and they are going to bring in Elon Muskof SpaceX to help them get there. The new project, called Stratolaunch Systems, will use an air-launched booster rocket to deliver payloads of cargo and/or people into low earth orbit.
Allen announced the new company today saying, “By the end of this decade, Stratolaunch will be putting spacecraft into orbit.”
The company will use a similar type of launch system developed for Rutan and Allen’s SpaceShipOne project. But it will be much, much bigger. The aircraft used to carry the booster rocket will be the largest airplane in the world. via Wired
