Stratolaunch conducts ‘captive carry’ test of reusable hypersonic vehicle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Stratolaunch, a privately held U.S. company, conducted its second “captive carry” test of a reusable hypersonic test vehicle, the company said on Saturday.

The Talon-A hypersonic vehicle was loaded with live propellant and carried aloft by the Spirit of Mojave, a modified Boeing 747-400, on a more than four-hour flight over the Pacific Ocean.

In a captive carry test, the payload craft does not separate from the carrier aircraft.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)