Cosmic Girl's third career: launching hypersonic vehicles

The 747-400 that began life as a Virgin Atlantic airliner, became Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl and launched satellites into orbit from under its wing, has started a third career.

Transferred to Stratolaunch in April 2024 and re-registered N949SL, the aircraft was renamed Spirit of Mojave. On 6 March 2026 it air-launched a Talon-A3 hypersonic vehicle under the Missile Defense Agency’s Flight Test Experiment Other-04, in what was its first publicly confirmed hypersonic sortie. The flight was disclosed on 21 May 2026.

What it is carrying now

The Talon-A is an uncrewed, reusable, autonomous hypersonic aircraft capable of around Mach 5. It is released from the 747 at altitude, accelerates under its own power, and returns to land — the reusability being the point, since hypersonic test articles have historically been expendable.

Stratolaunch announced in late July that the Talon-A had passed ten successful flights.

Why a 747 again

The same reasons that made it useful to Virgin Orbit, and that make 747s the engine testbed of choice: a hardpoint-capable wing, the payload and range to carry something large a long way, and four engines so that carrying an experimental object under one of them is not a single-point risk.

There is also simple availability. Nobody is building four-engined airliners, and the second-hand market that made this aircraft’s second and third careers possible is finite.

Where it goes next

Stratolaunch is contracted to operate from White Sands Missile Range, opening what would be the first overland hypersonic test range in the United States since 1968, and subsequently to Australia under the AUKUS agreement.

An aircraft delivered to Virgin Atlantic in 2001 is now a national test asset. That is a very 747 outcome.

Related

• Virgin Galactic will use a 747 to launch satellites — the 2015 post, with what happened next
• Where the 747s went
• Special Boeing 747s