The world's largest plane has completed its maiden flight

The world's largest airplane completed its maiden flight on April 13, the New York Times reported.Video of StratolaunchSystems' six-engine, twin-fuselage plane's maiden flight has surfaced online.

The wing span of the Stratolaunch catamaran is wider than a football field.The tail of the plane was 50 feet above the ground.

Stratolaunch flew for about 2.5 hours over California's Mojave Desert, reaching speeds of 189 miles per hour and an altitude of 17,000 feet.After taking off from the Mojave Air and Spaceport, the plane moved closer to its dream of launching satellites from the sky.Video: Stratolaunch's first successful test flight

With a twin fuselage, six engines and a wingspan of 385 feet, Stratolaunch is the longest aircraft ever built, more than the length of a football field.The aircraft weighs about 500,000 pounds (226.7 tons) and can carry a payload of 550,000 pounds (249.476 tons).Stratolaunch uses a identical twin body design.The 73m airframe has 12 main wheels and two front wheels, with separate horizontal and vertical tailfins.But the central brain is on the left side of the fuselage, where the pilots and mechanical engineers sit in the cockpit, and the right side of the fuselage is not even pressurized.Stratolaunch is ultimately intended to carry a rocket carrying a satellite to an altitude of 35,000 feet, then release the rocket to ignite the engine and lift it into Earth orbit.

"The first flight was very accurate," Evan Thomas, a test pilot, told reporters on a conference call shortly after the plane returned to Mojave."For the most part, the aircraft flew as expected...The system on the plane works like a watch."

Microsoft co-founder PaulG.Allen created the project and announced Stratolaunch in 2011.Unfortunately, Allen's death in October 2018 raised concerns about the project, and Stratolaunch refused to answer questions about the cost of the project at the time.Some question whether the trend towards smaller satellites will dampen demand for larger aircraft.

NASA astrophysicist ThomasZurbuchen said it was a historic event for the development team.

Stratolaunch chief executive JeanFloyd said: "we've been waiting for this big bird to take to the skies for years and we finally did it."

(Source: Civil Aviation Resources Network)