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Company type | Private |
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Founded | 2000-2003 |
Key people | Gary Hudson (Founder, CEO), Debra Facktor Lepore (President), Livingston Holder (Chief Program Executive), Curtis Gifford (Chief Operating Officer) |
Products | Orbital rocket launch; Aerospace Hardware |
Website | www.airlaunchllc.com |
AirLaunch LLC was an aerospace design and development company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington.[when?] They hope to provide launch services for launching payloads into orbits around the Earth. This is to be realized through a method called air launch where a rocket is carried within an aircraft and then dropped from altitude.[needs update] The rocket engine is then ignited where the rocket (with its payload) enter into a low earth orbit.[full citation needed]
The principal advantage of a rocket being launched by a high flying airplane is that it need not fly through the low, dense atmosphere, the drag of which requires a considerable amount of extra work and thus mass of propellant.
On June 14, 2006, the firm, in a DARPA sponsored test, dropped a 65,000 pounds (29 t) dummy payload from the back of a C-17, the largest single load ever dropped from an airplane.[1] Airlaunch is currently undergoing upper stage propulsion development for the QuickReach orbital launch vehicle.[needs update] The QuickReach vehicle is part of the Air Force and DARPA Falcon Small Launch Vehicle Program.
According to a DARPA document dated Oct 2008, the QuickReach phase 2C test firings were completed, and DARPA has concluded its SLV program.[2] AirLaunch subsequently ceased operations in November 2008.[citation needed]
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