Air launch

[1] The payload craft or missile is often tucked under the wing of the larger mother ship and then "dropped" while in flight.

[2] It may also be stored within a bomb bay, beneath the main fuselage or even on the back of the carrier aircraft, as in the case of the D-21 drone.

[4] One of the earliest uses of air launching used an airship as a carrier and docking station for biplane parasite fighters.

These planes would connect to their mothership through a trapeze-like rig, mounted to the top of the upper wing, that attached to a hook dangling from the bottom of the dirigible above.

With advances in airplane technology, especially in range, the value of a dirigible mothership was reduced and the concept became obsolete.

However, this added a degree of difficulty due to the shock wave pattern around an aircraft at supersonic speeds.

After three successful tests, the fourth resulted in a collision with the carrier aircraft, in which both craft were destroyed and one crew member drowned.

Orbital Sciences was developing the Pegasus II launcher that would have dropped from the purpose-built Scaled Composites Stratolaunch.

The Ansari X-Prize $10 million purse was won by a team led by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen for the successful launch of SpaceShipOne twice in a row in two weeks, which were the criteria.