Stratolaunch airplane nears first flight

On Jan 9, the giant Stratolaunch plane did a taxi test that reached a top speed of 219 kilometers per hour (137 mph), and the nosewheel rotated off the ground. Flight tests probably aren’t far off.

I remain a little baffled about the business plan for Stratolaunch, especially since the initial payload is apparently supposed to be *three* Pegasus XL launch vehicles. That eems an odd thing to do. But Stratoluanch intends to eventually build their own better-optimized expendable and reusable launch vehicles. And the more launchers, the better.