The Worlds Largest Plane Just Took to The Skies in an Unreal First Flight世界上仅次于的飞机于梦幻般的试飞中升空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.由胞弟（微软公司牵头创始人）保罗·艾伦设计的巨型飞机——Stratolaunch（平流层升空）于周六试飞，沦为有史以来凭借翼展飞上天空的仅次于的飞机。Larger than Howard Hughess 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，曾多次翼展仅次于的飞机）要大，不过Spruce Goose仅有在1947年飞行中过一次。Stratolaunch此次从坐落于加利福尼亚沙漠的莫哈维航空航天港降落，在空中飞行中了2个半小时，飞行高度约17000英尺（5000米），最低时速为189英里/小时（304千米/小时），该公司的高管说。
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极大，享有双机身、28个轮子和6个747喷气式发动机，它还有比足球场（不含球门区）还要宽的翼展。We finally did it, Jean Floyd, Stratolaunchs chief executive, said in a call with reporters. He said it was inspiring to see Paul Allens dream come to life.“我们再一做了，”Stratolaunch公司总裁吉恩·弗洛伊德在与记者的一次通话中说。
他回应，“看见保罗·艾伦的梦想沦为现实”十分振奋人心。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，微软公司的牵头创始人、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所持猜测态度。
该公司的高管未问记者的疑惑，也没在新闻通告中解释这家公司的未来规划。Since Allens death, the company has dramatically scaled back operations and laid off dozens of employees.自从艾伦去世以来，这家公司就大幅度缩减运营，还辞退了许多员工。
From the beginning, Allens 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加实惠、更加不切实际的方法来协助把卫星，还有可能是人类，送到太空。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）修建的，它被设计用作配备多达3枚火箭升空，然后栓于机身上的阻抗火箭不会开裂，点燃，并被升空到太空。
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