Here's real science: this week was the first flight of an air-launch-to-orbit craft called the Model 315 Stratolaunch. I think that's it in the picture? It can fly with up to a 1.3M lb spacecraft attached to the central wing and it has the largest wingspan of any aircraft, ever.
,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Stratolaunch
The aircraft is called the Stratolaunch "Roc" and is designed to carry specially built rockets up to high altitudes for them to deploy and reach orbit easier. It first flew last week (April 13th, 2019) and it is the largest by wingspan aircraft ever built at 110m (360ft).
Stratolaunch hopes to reduce the cost of launching small payloads to orbit, following in the footsteps (and actively working with) the Pegasus launch system which deploys rockets from other aircraft such as the US B-52 Stratofortress (I could just say "bomber" but that is just such an awesome word).
The Roc is fully capable of flying but unfortunately there's a small problem: there's barely anything that is compatible with it currently, and even less that is economic. It can launch up to three Pegasus rockets at once, but currently there's only about one launch per YEAR. In addition to that, NASA predicts the next Pegasus launch will cost around $55 million USD to get only a few hundred (~450) kilograms into orbit..
...roughly $124,153 per kg. For comparison, the Falcon 9 can lift 13,150 kg for $61 Million in a single launch at $4,640 per kilo, and the Falcon Heavy is only $1,700 per kg!
Although they are producing 3 other launch vehicles for the plane to carry (as far as I know, so far only called the "Medium Launch Vehicle, "Medium Launch Vehicle - Heavy", and "Space Plane"), these aren't predicted to be ready for another 3-5 years.
Unfortunately, despite being brand new, this system is becoming quite outdated and the design dates back to the days before Space X and Blue Origin were getting proficient at reusing rockets to reduce launch costs, and it simply cannot compete with modern launch systems.
To top it off, both NASA and Space X who originally supported and were preparing to partner with stratolaunch have backed away from aerial launch systems saying that it simply isn't viable anymore.
,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Stratolaunch
Stratolaunch hopes to reduce the cost of launching small payloads to orbit, following in the footsteps (and actively working with) the Pegasus launch system which deploys rockets from other aircraft such as the US B-52 Stratofortress (I could just say "bomber" but that is just such an awesome word).
The Roc is fully capable of flying but unfortunately there's a small problem: there's barely anything that is compatible with it currently, and even less that is economic. It can launch up to three Pegasus rockets at once, but currently there's only about one launch per YEAR. In addition to that, NASA predicts the next Pegasus launch will cost around $55 million USD to get only a few hundred (~450) kilograms into orbit..
Although they are producing 3 other launch vehicles for the plane to carry (as far as I know, so far only called the "Medium Launch Vehicle, "Medium Launch Vehicle - Heavy", and "Space Plane"), these aren't predicted to be ready for another 3-5 years.
Unfortunately, despite being brand new, this system is becoming quite outdated and the design dates back to the days before Space X and Blue Origin were getting proficient at reusing rockets to reduce launch costs, and it simply cannot compete with modern launch systems.
To top it off, both NASA and Space X who originally supported and were preparing to partner with stratolaunch have backed away from aerial launch systems saying that it simply isn't viable anymore.
https://www.quora.com/Rockets-What-is-cost-of-sending-1-kg-weight-into-space
https://spacenews.com/32591orbital-sciences-replaces-spacex-on-stratolaunch-project/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw84qJIGZeo (this one's good)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratolaunch_Systems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_II_(rocket)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(rocket)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Stratolaunch
Various twitter posts from Nasa and Space X/Elon Musk.