Stratolaunch Successfully Completes Reusable Hypersonic Flight and Recovery

Summary

MOJAVE, CA – May 05, 2025 – Stratolaunch is pleased to announce the successful completion of its second hypersonic flight and recovery with the Talon-A2 (TA-2) fully autonomous vehicle in March 2025. We are also pleased to share that this significant accomplishment followed the successful first hypersonic flight of Talon-A2 in December 2024 confirming the demonstrated reusability of the vehicle. The vehicle surpassed Mach 5 during its trajectory for the second time, exceeding the previous speed record set with the December flight. Supporting the United States’ defense initiatives, Stratolaunch is focused on expanding its hypersonic flight testing and ensuring the long-term sustainability of reusable hypersonic testbeds. These completed flights demonstrate the United States’ return to reusable hypersonic flight test since the X-15 program ended in 1968. “I am in awe of what this team has achieved. We’ve executed four incredible Talon-A flights, completed twenty-four Roc flights to date, flew two new supersonic and hypersonic airplanes in a single year, and we are firmly on the path to making hypersonic flight test services a reality,” Krevor said. Stratolaunch performed the flights for the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program under a partnership with Leidos. The MACH-TB program is intended to increase the speed of testing for all commercially available hypersonic systems. This was the second Stratolaunch flight completed on behalf of the program. “Demonstrating the reuse of fully recoverable hypersonic test vehicles is an important milestone for MACH-TB," stated George Rumford, Director of the Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center. "Lessons learned from this test campaign will help us reduce vehicle turnaround time from months down to weeks.” About StratolaunchStratolaunch's mission is to advance high-speed technology through innovative design, manufacturing, and operation of wo...