Firefly Gamma

Firefly Gamma was a concept from Firefly Aerospace for a winged rocket plane that would launch small payloads into orbit. It was drawn as a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle that was partially reusable, with its first stage returning to land horizontally on a runway like an aircraft. Firefly said about 75 percent of the flight hardware, by cost, could be recovered and reused, and the design called for an air launch and a ground launch configuration. The first stage was shown with large liquid oxygen tanks on either side and primary aerospike engines, and the company planned to reuse technology derived from its Alpha and Beta rockets to reduce risk, cost and schedule. Early coverage called it very early in development, and the Firefly Aerospace article later describes it in the past tense as a concept.