New Delhi: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has rolled out the world's largest airplane which will be used to 'air launch' rockets carrying small satellites.
The gigantic plane was wheeled out of its hanger for the first time and is all set to take on rocket makers as it is no less than a miracle.
The plane, called Stratolaunch, has a wingspan of 385 feet, which is wider than a football field and has a height of 50 feet.
When unfueled, it weighs 500,000 pounds but can carry 250,000 pounds of fuel, and its total weight can reach as high as 1.3 million pounds.
The huge airplane has 28 wheels and six 747 jet engines and has 60 miles of wire coursing through it.
It's so big that the county had to issue special construction permits just for the construction scaffolding.
Allen's Stratolaunch company has joined hands with Orbital ATK to "air launch" the company's Pegasus XL, a rocket capable of delivering small satellites, weighing as much as 1,000 pounds, to orbit.
The rockets would be tethered to the belly of the giant plane, which would fly them aloft, and once at an altitude of 35,000 feet or so, the rockets would drop and "air launch" to space.
