Reaching orbit around Earth is an incredibly difficult feat. It’s a common misconception that getting into orbit just involves getting very high above the ground — the real trick is going sideways very, very fast. Thus far, the most viable way we’ve found to do this is with big, complicated multi-stage rockets that shed bits of themselves as they roar out of the atmosphere.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://hackaday.com/2024/05/20/single-stage-to-orbit-the-launch-technology-we-wish-was-real/