The aircraft in search of a mission loses its mission:

Stratolaunch abandons launch vehicle program

“Stratolaunch is ending the development of their family of launch vehicles and rocket engine,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement. “We are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle.”

Yeah… I’m sorry, but developing an over-sized aircraft to launch the under-sized and over-priced Pegasus XL? Not a good business model. This news pretty well confirms that this was a “vanity project” by billionaire Paul Allen. When he died in October, the management of his companies and projects passed into the hands of people more interested in profit than whatever dreams he had. This should be a cautionary tale for the likes of Musk and Bezos… get their own dream projects running, successful, and *profitable* just as soon as they can. Because the moment they are gone… the dream dies.

As there is likely not a museum big enough for the Stratolaunch, I expect it will be broken down for parts before too long.