The World's Largest Plane Just Took to The Skies in an Unreal First Flight
世界上最大的飞机于梦幻般的首飞中升空

Stratolaunch, the massive aircraft dreamed up by the late Paul Allen, flew for the first time on Saturday, becoming the largest plane by wingspan ever to take to the skies.
由已故（微软联合创始人）保罗·艾伦设计的巨型飞机——Stratolaunch（平流层发射）于周六首飞，成为有史以来凭借翼展飞上天空的最大的飞机。

Larger than Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose - which flew only once, in 1947- Stratolaunch lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert and stayed aloft for 2.5 hours, company officials said, hitting an altitude of 17,000 feet (5,000 metres) and a maximum speed of 189 mph (304 km/h).
Stratolaunch比霍华德·休斯的Spruce Goose（云杉鹅，曾经翼展最大的飞机）要大，不过Spruce Goose仅在1947年飞行过一次。Stratolaunch此次从位于加利福尼亚沙漠的莫哈维航空航天港起飞，在空中飞行了2个半小时，飞行高度达17000英尺（5000米），最高时速为189英里/小时（304千米/小时），该公司的高管说道。

图片来源：Science Alert

The plane is a behemoth, with a twin fuselage, 28 wheels, six 747 jet engines and a wingspan longer than a football field, end zones included.
这架飞机就像一只比蒙巨兽一样巨大，拥有双机身、28个轮子和6个747喷气式发动机，它还有比足球场（含球门区）还要长的翼展。

"We finally did it," Jean Floyd, Stratolaunch's chief executive, said in a call with reporters. He said it was inspiring "to see Paul Allen's dream come to life."
“我们终于做到了，”Stratolaunch公司总裁吉恩·弗洛伊德在与记者的一次通话中说道。他表示，“看到保罗·艾伦的梦想成为现实”非常振奋人心。

But Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, died in October, leaving the future of the plane and the company behind it in doubt. Company officials did not take questions from reporters and did not address the future of the venture in a news release.
然而，微软的联合创始人、亿万富翁艾伦于去年10月去世了，这使人们对这架飞机和这家公司的未来持怀疑态度。该公司的高管并未回答记者的疑问，也没有在新闻通告中说明这家公司的未来规划。

Since Allen's death, the company has dramatically scaled back operations and laid off dozens of employees.
自从艾伦去世以来，这家公司就大幅削减运营，还解雇了许多员工。

From the beginning, Allen's dream was to use the plane to help make getting satellites, and possibly people, into space more affordable and accessible.
艾伦的梦想从一开始就是为了利用飞机以更实惠、更可行的方法来帮助把卫星，还可能是人类，送往太空。

Built by Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, Stratolaunch was designed to carry as many as three rockets tethered to its belly into the skies; the rockets would then drop, ignite and shoot off into space with their payloads.
Stratolaunch是由诺斯洛普·格鲁门公司的子公司Scaled Composites公司（美国一家航空公司）建造的，它被设计用于搭载多达3枚火箭升空，然后栓于机身上的负载火箭会脱落，点火，并被发射到太空。

 

（翻译：Dlacus）