That's the issue though. The hard part about achieving orbit isn't the height, it's the speed. In both a ground launch and a balloon launch you are starting a

That's the issue though. The hard part about achieving orbit isn't the height, it's the speed. In both a ground launch and a balloon launch you are starting at 0. This article does a better job explaining it than just about anything else on the web: https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ So complex schemes to lift the rocket to the edge of space don't end up buying you very much.