Paul Allen's space company nears debut of world's biggest plane

Mojave, California

A SPACE launch company bankrolled by Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen intends to compete with space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts by launching satellites into orbit from the world's biggest airplane.

Stratolaunch Systems, a unit of Mr Allen's privately owned Vulcan Aerospace, last week gave a small group of reporters a first look at the nearly finished aircraft.