The way Paul Allen sees it, the bigger the better, at least when it comes to building an airplane to serve as a flying launch pad for sending satellites into space. The airplane, informally called the "Roc" after the legendary giant bird of prey, is nearing completion inside a custom-built hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It's the same place where the Roc's little sister, White Knight, lofted the SpaceShipOne spaceplane into the air in 2004 to clinch the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first privately funded, manned vehicle to travel beyond the atmosphere. Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, whom Forbes ranks as the 40th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth ...
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