Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, the space company founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is closing operations, cutting short ambitious plans to challenge traditional aerospace companies in a new “space race,” Reuters reported Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter. From the report: The company, a unit of Allen’s privately held investment vehicle Vulcan, had been developing a portfolio of launch vehicles including the world’s largest airplane by wingspan to launch satellites and eventually humans into space. Allen, who founded Seattle-based Stratolaunch in 2011, died at age 65 last October. […] Stratolaunch aimed to launch Northrop’s small-payload Pegasus from Stratolaunch’s carrier plane in 2020.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/19/05/31/2046253/space-firm-founded-by-paul-allen-closing-operations-report-says?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed