Watch a 747 airplane launch a rocket, mid-flight, to deliver ten small satellites to orbit

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Intrepid Space YouTuber Scott Manley nails the headline:

Virgin Reaches Orbit With The Help of Cosmic Girl

[David_Guilbeaul]

@glenblank

the now-revived Stratolaunch is looking to build a variety of launchers (including a small space place) to be dropped from its humongous Roc carrier aircraft, already flying.

Good to hear Stratolaunch is back in business…I thought they were done when Allen died. A lot of the projects he was interested in withered up (like his museums). None of my business, but at least the small computer museum seems a bit harsh seeing that’s where the money came from

[FGD135]

Old school.

[FGD135]

@glenblank

And the USAF once tried dropping a Minuteman ICBM out the back of a C-130 cargo plane.

There is no “try”… and it was a C-5

C-5 Galaxy Minuteman ICBM Drop Test

This was done in context with SALT at the time. I think the idea was to encurage the Soviet Union to be somewhat less petulant about SSBNs.

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I didn’t mean for “tried…” to imply “…and failed”.

And right, C-5, not C-130. (Indeed, after posting, I was thinking, "Wait. Isn’t that awfully large for a Herc? But I didn’t check, so thx for the correction )