Gigantic Stratolaunch carrier plane rolled out

[gary]

The Stratolaunch, the world's largest plane, has been rolled out of its
hangar in the Mojave Desert.

The dual-hulled aircraft has a wingspan of 117m.
By comparison the Spruce Goose (Hughes H-4 Hercules) had a wingspan of 94m.

Funded by Paul Allen, the plane is designed to fly at an altitude of 30,000'
and launch the Pegaus XL rocket, built by Orbital ATK, into low-Earth
orbit.

Story and pictures here :-
http://www.space.com/37046-stratolau...t-rollout.html

[LewisM]

Kerbal Space meets reality.

You can smell Burt Rutan's design influence from here

[gary]

Originally Posted by LewisM

You can smell Burt Rutan's design influence from here

Indeed, the manufacturer is Scaled Composites of California, founded by Rutan.

http://www.scaled.com/about/burt_rutan

[Ric]

Blimey, that's big.

[sil (Steve)]

How long before trump wants something suitably large to drop from it?

[Wavytone]

Looking at it sitting on the apron I couldn't help thinking "now what could possibly go wrong with that ?"... starting with the two halves deciding to part ways...

[PCH (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Looking at it sitting on the apron I couldn't help thinking "now what could possibly go wrong with that ?"... starting with the two halves deciding to part ways...

Lol, my thoughts exactly !

[el_draco (Rom)]

Jumping jelly beans batman, the stresses on that central strut make me pucker at the thought of flying in it. I can imagine the crew in each cockpit looking nervously at each other on a regular basis.

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Mien Gott!

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by el_draco

Jumping jelly beans batman, the stresses on that central strut make me pucker at the thought of flying in it. I can imagine the crew in each cockpit looking nervously at each other on a regular basis.

You need to study wing bending relief amongst other factors of aerodynamics and dynamic loading.

I am absolutely sure Burt Rutan knows what he is doing.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

You need to study wing bending relief amongst other factors of aerodynamics and dynamic loading.

I am absolutely sure Burt Rutan knows what he is doing.

Nope, the eyeball works just fine