35°02′53.6064″N 118°08′31.9524″W / 35.048224000°N 118.142209000°W
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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Aerospace |
Founded | 2011 | as Stratolaunch Systems Corp.
Headquarters | Mojave Air and Space Port Mojave, California, U.S. |
Key people | Zachary Krevor (CEO) |
Products | Flight test services |
Number of employees | 360 (December 2023)[1] |
Parent | Cerberus Capital Management[2] |
Website | stratolaunch |
Stratolaunch LLC is a private American aerospace company providing high-speed flight test services. It was founded in 2011 to develop a new air-launched space transportation system, with its corporate headquarters in Seattle.[3][4] The company and development project were announced in December 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, who had previously collaborated on SpaceShipOne.[5] After ten years, the company was acquired in 2019 by Cerberus Capital Management and has continued privately funded, operating as a non-traditional defense contractor.
The project began with three components: a carrier aircraft being built by Scaled Composites (model Stratolaunch, called "Roc"[6]), a multi-stage payload launch vehicle launched at high altitude into space from under the carrier aircraft, plus a mating and integration system by Dynetics.[7] However, only the carrier aircraft was fully developed by the time of Paul Allen's death in late 2018.
The carrier aircraft first flew in April 2019, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, reaching 15,000 ft (4,600 m) and 190 mph (305 km/h) during a 2 hour 29 minute flight.[8][9]
Stratolaunch underwent a change of ownership and direction when Jean Floyd took over as CEO in 2019, reacquiring staff and growing to 87 employees by the beginning of 2020. Dr. Zachary Krevor has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratolaunch, LLC since March 2022. Prior to becoming President and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Krevor was the Vice President of Engineering at Stratolaunch Systems Corporation.
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