Schafer Celebrates Aerospace, Defense Growth with New Facility

Microsoft Co-Founder Establishes Commercial Space Company in Huntsville
Huntsville-based Dynetics to play key role in manufacturing

Artist’s renderings of the Stratolaunch plane and rocket.

Microsoft Co-Founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen announced Tuesday that he and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan have reunited to develop the next generation of space travel, and that Huntsville will play a major role.

The new company leading the effort is Stratolaunch Systems, which is headquartered in Huntsville, will build a mobile launch system with three primary components:

A carrier aircraft, developed by Scaled Composites, the aircraft manufacturer and assembler founded by Rutan. It will be the largest aircraft ever flown.
A multi-stage booster, manufactured by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies;
A state-of-the-art mating and integration system allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry a booster weighing up to 490,000 pounds. It will be built by Dynetics, a leader in the field of aerospace engineering.

Allen and Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first privately-funded, manned rocket ship to fly beyond earth’s atmosphere, are developing a revolutionary approach to space transportation: an air-launch system to provide orbital access to space with greater safety, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.

Stratolaunch Systems will bring airport-like operations to the launch of commercial and government payloads and, eventually, human missions. Plans call for a first flight within five years. The air-launch-to-orbit system will mean lower costs, greater safety, and more flexibility and responsiveness than is possible today with ground-based systems. Stratolaunch’s quick turnaround between launches will enable new orbital missions as well as break the logjam of missions queued up for launch facilities and a chance at space.

“I have long dreamed about taking the next big step in private space flight after the success of SpaceShipOne – to offer a flexible, orbital space delivery system,” Allen said. “We are at the dawn of radical change in the space launch industry. Stratolaunch Systems is pioneering an innovative solution that will revolutionize space travel.”

Dynetics will provide the mating and integration system and the systems engineering, integration, test and operations support for the entire air-launch system. The mating and integration system will be manufactured in Huntsville in Dynetics’ new 226,500-square-foot prototyping facility.

“We are excited to play such a major role on this system. This is an ambitious project unlike any that has been undertaken, and I am confident the Stratolaunch team has the experience and capabilities to accomplish the mission,” said Dynetics Executive Vice President and Stratolaunch board member David King.

Former NASA Administrator and current Eminent Scholar at UAHuntsville Mike Griffin, also a Stratolaunch board member, joined Allen and Rutan at a press conference in Seattle to announce the project. “We believe this technology has the potential to someday make spaceflight routine by removing many of the constraints associated with ground launched rockets,” Griffin said. “Our system will also provide the flexibility to launch from a large variety of locations.”