The world's biggest airplane – longer than an American football field and with a wingspan of three Boeing 747s – completed its second test flight from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Built by Stratolaunch, the plane named Roc – with a wingspan of 117 metres and powered by 6 Boeing 747 engines – is being groomed to carry and launch supersonic vehicles high up in the sky. During Thursday's three hour test flight, Roc reached an altitude of 4,267m and a top speed of 320 km/h. "We're very pleased with how the Stratolaunch aircraft performed today, and we are equally excited about how much closer the aircraft is to launching its first hypersonic vehicle," said Zachary Krevor, Stratolaunch chief operating officer, said in a postflight news conference. US army develops new tool to detect deepfakes threatening national security Apple broke competition law, EU says after Spotify complaint'Brain-like device' mimics human learning in major computing breakthrough'Brain-like device' mimics human learning in major computing breakthrough With greater ambitions of "convenient, affordable, and routine" access to space, Roc's successful test flight and immediate vision of carrying supersonic vehicles is a step in the right direction for the company which was established in 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The world's largest plane, Stratolaunch, has a completed a key taxi test ahead of taking to the skies for the first time. The gigantic plane, which is the vision of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is believed to be close to its first flight after reaching a record-breaking 90mph during medium-speed taxi testing at the Mojave Air & Space Port. Allen died Monday in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, aged 65. The massive plane has a wingspan longer than a football field and comes equipped with two cockpits, 28 wheels and six engines normally used to power 747 jumbo jets. Eventually it will be used to transport rockets carrying satellites and even a newly revealed manned space plane into the Earth's upper atmosphere, where they will blast off into space.

Twitch has a tiny Russian problem, and Intel has pulled the plug on its smart glasses. We also have an update on what Pornhub is (not) doing about deepfake videos and everything you need to know about last night's SpaceX launch. We're upgrading Engadget's daily newsletter and want to hear from you. Tell us exactly what you think by emailing us at themorningafter(at)engadget.com. Just two years late.Paul Allen's massive Stratolaunch may finally take off this summer With a wingspan measuring 385 feet, the 500,000-pound, twin-fuselage Stratolaunch is the largest plane in the world.

The world's biggest plane is a step closer to its first flight. Named Stratolaunch, the colossal aircraft successfully fired all six of its Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines - each weighing 8,940lbs (4,000kg) - for the first time this week. The plane is the vision of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen who wants it to act as a giant air pad in the sky, allowing payloads to reach space faster and at a lower cost than existing technologies. The aircraft is so huge if it sat in the centre of a football field, it would be wide enough for its wings to reach 12.5 feet (3.8 metres) beyond each goalpost. Instead of a satellite, the Stratolaunch airplane could launch a Dream Chaser spaceship. This could act as a mini-shuttle to reach low Earth orbit destinations and return astronauts or payloads to a runway within 24 hours.

The biggest aircraft ever is ready for testing. We hacked our very own proper D-pad for the Nintendo Switch and also took a closer look at how AI is changing our world -- and doing things better than humans. The world's largest aircraft prepares for testing As we've seen with SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and the rest, billionaires love nothing more than funding wild transportation projects. The Paul Allen-backed Stratolaunch is yet another program in that vein, intended as an airborne launch vehicle for future rockets. Now, after a few years of teasing, it appears the "world's largest aircraft" could be close to taking flight.

The latest entrant into the new space race has a wingspan longer than the distance traveled by the Wright Brothers in their earliest flights. Its landing gear has a total of 28 wheels. And the local county had to issue special construction permits for the scaffolding needed to build what would be the world's largest airplane. Only someone like Paul Allen -- the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, dreamer and space enthusiast -- might attempt to build something like this: a twin-fuselage behemoth as wide as a football field that, fully loaded, would weigh 1.3 million pounds, be powered by six 737 engines and have 60 miles of wiring coursing through it. Called Stratolaunch, the plane would be bigger than Howard Hughes' famed Spruce Goose, which flew once, in 1947. But Allen's creation comes as the space industry is being disrupted by entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, who like him, aim to revolutionize space travel.