Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites is an American aerospace prototyping and experimental aircraft company founded in 1982 by aerospace designer Burt Rutan and based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. The company built SpaceShipOne, the first privately developed crewed vehicle to reach space, which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004 after two flights above 100 km; that programme, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, established Scaled Composites as the leading builder of experimental suborbital spaceplanes.

Scaled subsequently designed and built the original SpaceShipTwo and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic, though manufacture and testing of later SpaceShipTwo-class vehicles was transferred to Virgin's own subsidiary, The Spaceship Company. Other notable Scaled Composites projects include the Proteus high-altitude research aircraft, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (first solo non-stop flight around the world), the X-47A Pegasus unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator, and structural work on the Stratolaunch carrier aircraft, the largest aircraft by wingspan ever flown.

Northrop Grumman acquired full ownership of Scaled Composites on 24 August 2007, and the company now operates as a wholly owned Northrop Grumman subsidiary specialising in composite-structure design, prototype fabrication and flight test services for aerospace and defense customers, rather than as an independent spacecraft developer. Scaled Composites remains active, employing several hundred staff at its Mojave facility under president Greg Morris.