SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) space vehicles : all you need to know and news 2026

A 1960s rocket concept that imagined orbit in under an hour. Hyperion was a single-stage sled design proposed by engineer Philip Bono. A three-kilometer ground sled would accelerate the vehicle to about 300 meters per second before it climbed a mountainside and headed for orbit. The concept was fully reusable and aimed to lift more than 18,000 kilograms or carry over 100 passengers. It used plug nozzle engines and a heat shield system for re-entry, long before such features became common in mode

Zorin on Instagram: "The instagram reel of Hyperion sled-launched rocket was a bold vision far ahead of its era, imagined back in the 1960s as a way to reach orbit in less than an hour. Created by Philip Bono, this single-stage-to-orbit concept relied on a 3 km ground sled for horizontal acceleration, reaching nearly 300 m/s before climbing a mountainside and igniting its ascent. Designed to be fully reusable, it could theoretically carry over 18, 000 kg of cargo or more than 100 passengers, usi