Halfway to Anywhere

by G. Harry Stine

Halfway to Anywhere tells the story of the development and future potential of the reusable Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) spaceship - a spaceship NASA bureaucrats once said was impossible. But an experimental rocket, the DC-X, was built in twenty-two months with a tiny government contract and parts scrounged from space junk yards and Wal-mart. The DC-X first flew in 1993 and was repeatedly flown and tested until 1995; it proved the concepts of reusability and quick turnaround like an airliner. SSTO means economical, reliable, on demand space transportation of people and cargos to and from low-Earth orbit within a decade. Commercial spaceships that operate like airliners are possible and profitable, and Halfway to Anywhere tells how and why.