Re: This just makes sense
>Getting out of a portion of the gravity well before launching a space vehicle is a viable option
It's no real change in gravity (Earth's surface is 6400km from the center, 30,000ft is only 9km further!)
The alleged advantage is that you can fly out to sea and launch in any direction - it's hard to find a land based launch site that has empty ocean in all directions ! You can also fly to where the weather is nicer, assuming it is good enough to let you get off the ground.
Drawbacks are that you are limited to a small, single payload.
It has to be engineered to support itself sideways while slung underneath an aeroplane and then 'downwards' when the rocket kicks off.
The launch altitude isn't high enough for the rocket to be vacuum optimised, so you still need 2 stages.
And because it has a manned carrier aeroplane you have all the safety costs and restrictions of a manned launch.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
