A Boeing 747 that flew for Virgin Orbit before its collapse has a new home with Stratolaunch

• Hypersonic testing startup Stratolaunch has acquired a 22-year-old Boeing 747 named Spirit of Mojave.
• The jumbojet previously flew as a satellite launch aircraft for Virgin Orbit, a spinoff company from Virgin Galactic.

A Boeing 747-400 has officially left the Virgin brand after 22 years and has found a new home with hypersonic planemaker Stratolaunch — and it won't be flying passengers.

On Tuesday, the California-based company announced the arrival of the "Spirit of the Mojave," a modified 747 acquired from Virgin Orbit.

In an X post, Stratolaunch said the jet was named by its employees "as a tribute to the passion of the Mojave aerospace community that has built and tested some of the world's most unique aircraft."

The plane flew to the Mojave Air and Space Port from San Bernardino after modifications and a new paint job. It will start flying missions in the first half of 2024, according to Stratolaunch.

The Spirit of Mojave's main purpose will be as a launch platform for Stratolaunch's reusable hypersonic testbed called the TA-1 Talon-A, according to a May press release announcing the 747's purchase.

Once flying, the 747 will conduct missions alongside Stratolaunch's flagship plane, Roc.

"With Roc remaining as our mainstay aircraft, an additional 747 brings expanded capabilities and flexibility to our platform," Stratolaunch CEO and president Dr. Zachary Krevor said in May. "We will be able to increase both our flight test capacity and reach to become an even stronger partner to global customers."

Designed to be a mothership with six engines, a 385-foot wingspan, and the ability to carry up to 500,000 pounds, Roc is the world's largest aircraft by wingspan and the largest all-composite airplane ever built.

Stratolaunch, which was created by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen in 2011, initially developed Roc as an air-launch aircraft to get rockets and other space vehicles into orbit.

But when Allen died in 2018, the company moved towards hypersonic research and is currently developing the Talon-A aircraft to fly five times the speed of sound.

The TA-1 hit a milestone in December when it flew its first flight with Roc. Talon-A carried live propellant onboard so Stratolaunch could evaluate its propulsion systems in the elevated environment.

Stratolaunch's 747 gets a new name for the first time in 22 years

Starting its long life as a passenger jet with Virgin Atlantic Airways in 2001, the 747 was named "Cosmic Girl" and flew for the airline for 14 years before being acquired by Virgin Orbit.

Virgin Orbit was billionaire Richard Branson's failed satellite launch provider and the sister company to Branson's space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April but used the plane to fly its LauncherOne rocket into orbit.

According to Virgin, the 747 would fly to 35,000 feet over the ocean before LauncherOne's engines propelled it into orbit.

Cosmic Girl completed a few successful missions before its last launch in January 2023 failed.

By May, Branson agreed to sell Cosmic Girl to Stratolaunch for $17 million after receiving no better offers, the Seattle Times reported, citing court documents.