It was announced in December 2011, rolled out in May 2017,[2] and flew for the first time on April 13, 2019, shortly after the death of founder Paul Allen.

Stratolaunch ceased operations in May 2019, shortly after the first flight of the Roc,[3] and placed all company assets, including the aircraft, for sale by June 2019.

In early 2011, Dynetics began studying the project and had approximately 40 employees working on it at the December 2011 public announcement.

Stratolaunch originally planned to airlaunch the Falcon 9 Air by SpaceX, whose efforts began shortly before December.

[9] In October 2012, the first of two manufacturing buildings, an 88,000 sq ft (8,200 m2) facility for construction of the composite sections of the wing and fuselage, was opened for production.

This left the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL as the sole launch option for an orbital capability of 800 lb (360 kg).

[24] The aircraft first flew on April 13, 2019, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, reaching 17,000 feet (5,200 m) and speed of 165 knots (306 km/h) in a 2 hours 29 minutes flight.

An asking price of US$400 million was reported, which would include the sole aircraft, the company facilities, equipment, the designs and other intellectual property.

[6] By early 2020, Stratolaunch was developing the Talon-A reusable, rocket-powered, hypersonic flight vehicle (the Vulcan Aerospace Hyper-A concept in 2018), intended to reach Mach 5-7 after launch.

Single Talon-A launch flights were planned for 2022, with an ambitious target to carry up to three hypersonic vehicles at once the following year.

[42] The center section of the high-mounted, high aspect ratio wing is fitted with a Mating and Integration System (MIS), developed by Dynetics and capable of handling a 490,000 lb (220 t) load.

[7] The flight controls include 12 cable-driven ailerons powered by hydraulic actuators, split rudders, and horizontal stabilizers on twin tail units.

The wing has 14 electrically signaled, hydraulically actuated trailing-edge split flaps that also act as speed brakes.

[10] Launch of a Dream Chaser small spaceplane capable of transporting astronauts or payloads within 24 hours was also proposed.

[46][47] A subsequent goal was to carry up to three Orbital ATK "Pegasus XL" rockets for high-altitude launches by 2022,[48][49] before the retargeting to hypersonic flight.

[39] Data from Stratolaunch[44]General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era