17 Facts About Stratolaunch Systems

Stratolaunch Systems LLC is an American aerospace company providing high-speed flight test services.

Stratolaunch Systems underwent a change of ownership and major change of direction in mid-2019 as the assets of the company were put up for sale, and some sources suggested that Stratolaunch Systems could cease operations completely.

CEO Jean Floyd announced that Stratolaunch Systems reacquired staff in the fourth quarter of 2019, growing to 87 employees by mid-December and forecasting a "great year" in 2020 providing high-speed flight test services.

In 2014, Stratolaunch Systems announced that it was considering multiple launch vehicle options over a range of satellite sizes, and that some development work on the orbital launch vehicle has been slowed down to focus on completion of the carrier aircraft.

Later in the year, in November 2015, Gary Wentz "stepped down as president and CEO of Stratolaunch Systems to join United Launch Alliance to lead human launch services" for ULA.

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In May 2017, the Stratolaunch Systems was rolled out for the first time to begin fueling tests, the first of many ground tests.

In December 2017, the Stratolaunch Systems was rolled out for the first taxi test on the runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

In January 2019, Stratolaunch Systems announced it was halting development of its own air-launched family of launch vehicles.

Stratolaunch Systems began to rapidly reacquire staff in the fourth quarter of 2019, growing from just 13 employees in October 2019 to 87 employees by mid-December 2019.

Stratolaunch Systems redirected its mission to providing high-speed flight test services.

In November 2012, Stratolaunch Systems retained Orbital ATK on a "study contract" to develop and evaluate "several alternative configurations" for the vehicle to be launched from the carrier aircraft.

In May 2014, it was announced that the Pegasus II solid-fuel rocket was not achieving design economic goals and that Stratolaunch Systems had contracted with Aerojet Rocketdyne to build the RL10C-1 dual-motor liquid fuel engines for the launch vehicle.

The implication is Stratolaunch Systems has decided to go its own way in developing a launch vehicle.

On 2 November 2018, Stratolaunch Systems completed the first hot-fire test of the "pre-burner" portion of its engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center.

Stratolaunch Systems reportedly has sufficient funding in place to complete early development through the first hypersonic test flight.

Stratolaunch Systems has a concept in place, as of 2020, for a much larger Talon-Z that would be capable of carrying cargo payloads, and perhaps people as well, to orbit.

Stratolaunch Systems completed their second Mojave building, the very large hangar facility for the Stratolaunch Systems Carrier Aircraft, in February 2013.