Paul Allen's Stratolaunch reported to be abandoning plans to develop new family of rockets

Stratolaunch looking at laying off more than 50 employees in coming days, suggest reports

Stratolaunch, the Seattle-based company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, is reportedly ending work on new launch vehicles and rocket engines. The reports also suggest that it is considering laying off more than 50 employees in the coming days.

A company spokesman revealed that the company had decided to end work on its own family of launch vehicles and rocket engines and would instead focus on the development of its flagship aircraft.

"We are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle," the company admitted in a statement to GeekWire.

"We are immensely proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to first flight in 2019."

Stratolaunch was founded by Paul Allen in 2011 with a vision to develop an aircraft that would take a rocket to an altitude of 10670 metres (35,000 feet) and launch the rocket into the orbit from that height. In 2017, the company unveiled its huge, twin-fuselage plane for the first time.

With a wingspan of 117.3 metres (385 feet), it is the world's largest airplane. The massive plane comes equipped with two cockpits, six engines and 28 wheels.

It is currently undergoing tests at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California and is expected to take its first flight in 2019. The most recent taxi tests on the plane were performed on 9th January, in which the plane reached a speed of about 220 kilometres per hour.

The company has already signed a deal with Orbital ATK to launch its Pegasus XL rocket from the aircraft.

Last summer, Stratolaunch also announced plans to develop its own family of launch vehicles and rocket engines. It had been working on a hydrogen-fuelled rocket engine that was named "PGA" in honour of Paul G. Allen.

But, following Allen's death last October, it seems that the company has finally decided to scale back its operations and to focus on getting its airplane off the ground this year.

According to GeekWire, the company has also informed its employees about the upcoming lay off of about 50 employees as a result of the change in business strategy.