BUT FOR JFK, WE'D ALWAYS HAVE IT THIS WAY:

Horizontally Launched Aircraft Could Revolutionize Space Travel (Conan Milner, 9/19/10, Epoch Times)

Ways to push existing technologies for a new system of space travel are being examined by engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. An early proposal suggests using a wedge-shaped aircraft with scramjets that would be horizontally launched from a track.

While the Advanced Space Launch System is still in the preliminary stages, engineers believe that a working system could be created within the next 10 years.

The proposal describes a craft that would launch from a two-mile-long, electrified or gas-powered track, and fly into the upper atmosphere up to a speed of Mach 10. A small capsule would then shoot the vehicle into orbit, similar to a second stage from a conventional rocket. On the return trip, the craft would land on a runway as would an airplane.