The world’s largest airplane has officially gone on sale — but it comes at a steep price. Known as the Stratolaunch, it’s reportedly being sold for $400 million. To put that number into comparison, a new Boeing 747-8 jet costs about $357 million, whereas an Airbus A321 costs about $115 million. What’s with the Stratolaunch expensive price tag?
Stratolaunch is the brainchild of the private American aerospace manufacturing company Stratolaunch Systems Corporation. In 2011, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced the project alongside Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan. With Stratolaunch, the two entrepreneurs wanted to develop a new airplane that could launch satellites, shuttles or other payloads into orbit. Current launch systems consist of rockets that propel payloads from the ground into Earth’s orbit. However, the Stratosphere is designed to launch payloads into Earth’s orbit from the air.
Of course, Stratolaunch isn’t an ordinary jet-powered airplane. It’s the world’s largest airplane. Reports show that it has a wingspan of approximately 385 feet, meaning it’s wider than the length of a regulation-size football field. And because of its massive size, it uses a half-dozen engines, all of which have been salvaged from a fleet of Boeing jets.
The Stratolaunch project has experienced numerous roadblocks in recent years, the most notable being the death of co-founder Paul Allen. After Allen’s passing, the project was placed on the back burner. It’s believed that Stratolaunch began downsizing and is no longer looking to build multiple units of the Stratolaunch. With that said, there’s still one Stratolaunch that’s ready to fly, and it appears the startup is looking to sell it.
Stratolaunch Systems Corporation now wants to sell both the Stratolaunch as well as the intellectual property (IP) with which it’s associated, all of which comes at a collective price tag of approximately $400 million. Potential buyers of Stratolaunch include SpaceX and Blue Origin.
When speaking about the potential sale of Stratolaunch to a CNBC reporter, a spokesperson for the startup explained that “Stratolaunch remains operational. We will provide an update when there is news to share.”
While Stratolaunch is a bold new endeavor, it’s already proven itself as a capable and functional airplane. In April, the startup successfully completed a test flight of the Stratolaunch. This was the first time in the project’s eight-year history that the Stratolaunch had actually flown in the air. During the test flight, Stratolaunch hovered above the Mojave Air and Space Port in The Golden State for about two hours before returning to Earth.
