Stratolaunch has brought a former Virgin Orbit Boeing 747-400 into active service as part of its expanding hypersonic flight test program, repurposing the aircraft as an additional air-launch platform alongside its giant Roc carrier plane.
The 22-year-old jumbo jet, previously known as Cosmic Girl with Virgin Atlantic and later used by Virgin Orbit as a LauncherOne rocket carrier, was acquired out of Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy proceedings. Renamed Spirit of Mojave, the aircraft was purchased for about $17 million, according to court documents cited in US media, and relocated to Mojave Air and Space Port after modification and repainting.
Stratolaunch plans to use the 747 primarily to support flights of its Talon-A hypersonic test vehicles, including the reusable TA-1 and TA-2 variants. The Spirit of Mojave will operate missions in parallel with Roc, providing added flexibility for launching autonomous hypersonic aircraft from altitude.
The company has already conducted multiple hypersonic flights of Talon-A vehicles using Roc, including tests with Department of Defense payloads and experiments. Integrating the 747 into the fleet is intended to increase sortie rates and broaden the range of air-launch configurations available for future hypersonic test campaigns.