1962: The Sea Dragon was a 1962 conceptualized design study for a two-stage sea-launched orbital super heavy-lift launch vehicle. The project was led by Robert Truax. With dimensions of 150 m (490 ft) long and 23 m (75 ft) in diameter, Sea Dragon would have been the largest rocket ever built. It was planned to launch it from the sea because the shock wave of the engines could destroy the launchpad and the rocket itself. The system would be at least partially reusable with passive reentry and rec

The Sea Dragon was a massive, two-stage rocket concept developed in the early 1960s by aerospace engineer Robert Truax for Aerojet. Designed to be the largest rocket ever conceived, it would have been capable of carrying up to 550 metric tons (1.2 million pounds) of payload into orbit. The rocket was unique in that it was designed to be built with simple, low-cost materials and launched directly from the ocean.The first stage would have used liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1 (kerosene), while the sec