Hazegrayart - Reusable One Stage Orbital Space Truck (ROOST) -

[catdlr]

Philip Bono's study of a reusable Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO)
The Douglas Aircraft Reusable One-Stage Orbital Space Truck (ROOST)

The reentry and recovery system for the ROOST booster would gradually deploy and inflate with hot gases to gently land like a hot air balloon.

[zodiacchris]

That’s roundabout the most clunky and unlikely proposal I’ve seen in decades. The sheer size is ludicrous, it’s not fully reusable, shedding fairings in orbit, the ballute is bigger than a Zeppelin, it sits on the ocean like a pregnant onion after gently floating down as a hot air balloon (seriously?) and then gets towed somewhere where the huge gasbag is folded up and somebody somehow gets this huge monster ready for launch and back on the launch table. How tall is that thing meant to be, 200m? Good grief…