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Private company

AirLaunch

Logo: AirLaunch LLC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Defunct aerospace Company

AirLaunch was an aerospace design and development company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. They had hoped to provide launch services for launching payloads into orbits around the Earth. This was to be realized through a method called air launch where a rocket is carried to high altitude by an aircraft and then released for launch.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2000Founded1

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AirLaunch was an aerospace design and development company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. They had hoped to provide launch services for launching payloads into orbits around the Earth. This was to be realized through a method called air launch where a rocket is carried to high altitude by an aircraft and then released for launch. The rocket engine is then ignited to launch the rocket (with its payload) into a low Earth orbit (LEO).2

Products and brands

  • orbital spaceflight

Listed on Wikidata.1

On June 14, 2006, the firm, in a DARPA sponsored test, dropped a 72,000 pounds (33 t) dummy payload from the back of a C-17, a record-setting drop for the aircraft type. Airlaunch subsequently carried out upper stage propulsion development for the QuickReach orbital launch vehicle. The QuickReach vehicle is part of the Air Force and DARPA Falcon Small Launch Vehicle Program.

From Wikipedia’s article on AirLaunch, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 2000Founded Founded1

Sources

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