Stratolaunch conducts first powered flight of new hypersonic vehicle off California coast | KLRT [Video]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. aerospace company Stratolaunch conducted the first powered test flight of a new unmanned craft for hypersonic research on Saturday and called it a success.

Hypersonic describes flights at speeds of at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

Chief Executive Officer Zachary Krevor said in a statement that the Talon-A-1 vehicle “reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a great amount of data at an incredible value to our customers.”

Krevor said he could not release the specific altitude and speed because of proprietary agreements with customers.

The company’s massive six-engine carrier aircraft Roc carried the Talon aloft, attached to the center of its gigantic wing, and released it off the central coast of California.

The Talon, powered by a liquid-fuel rocket engine, ended its flight by descending into the ocean as planned. While this Talon was expendable, a future …