Stage 1 Reaching Escape Velocity And Returning

[Bhodi Li]

With modern spacecraft such as those produced by Space X and Blue Origin the first stage returns to the launch pad for reuse. I was thinking, what if we were to build a spacecraft where the first stage gets the spacecraft to escape velocity and once it does it can detach and return to the launch pad without the need of a second stage. The payload section would have small engines but those would mostly just be for guidance as there wouldn't really be any need to accelerate the craft any further once it reaches escape velocity.