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A modified tail-less C-17 Globemaster takes off from a runway piggybacking a 50-tonne package. Thirty minutes later it reaches a cruise altitude of 33,000 feet and activates its fast upward-looking radar (FULR). The 50-tonne payload raises a hydraulic arm high above and releases a drogue chute which trails behind.

Moments later an unmanned supersonic XF-48 Aerograppler comes hurtling out of the sky, pulling through the bottom of a loop with a full 1-gee of acceleration while attached to the bottom of a thin 3950-kilometer skyhook tether. Slowing to subsonic speed, it feathers its wings outward, and powers up its jet engine. In seconds it matches speed and trajectory with the tailless C-17 Globemaster. It homes in on the drogue chute and captures it with powerful grappling mandibles. A winch on the hydraulic arm then activates and pulls the Aerograppler in for a hard mate on top of the 50-tonne payload. Twenty-nine seconds have elapsed...

During the next 75 seconds, the Aerograppler & Payload piggyback the Globemaster flying at 33,000 feet altitude. The Aerograppler is refueled with Kerosene and Oxygen directly from the Globemaster's onboard tanks, hidden within the fuselage. Then as 50-tonnes of tensile force builds up in the Skyhook tether, the Aerograppler & Payload are released from the Globemaster, which pitches down and banks right to prevent jetwash from affecting the Aerograppler.

The Aerograppler is pulled up and away from the Globemaster by steadily building tension in the Skyhook tether. It feathers its wings inwards as altitude and speed build approaching the speed of sound. It shuts down its jet engine, and primes its kerosene-oxygen thrusters. A minute-and-a-half later the Aerograppler and payload reach 213,000 feet and speed passes Mach one. The atmosphere has thinned out and aerodynamic drag is less than 8 percent of maximum. After three minutes it leaves earth's atmosphere behind and ascends upwards, pulled to orbital altitude by the massive 57,000-tonne Skyhook Hub & tether.

Thirty minutes later the Aerograppler reaches 7900 km altitude, its mandibles release the 50-tonne payload, whose momentum carries it higher to 12,000 km altitude. Once there it fires a small rocket, giving it an extra 635 m/s boost to circularize its orbit. The tether however, contracts elastically pulling the Aerograppler inward. In response, the Aerograppler fires its Kerosene-Oxygen rockets at just the right moment to stop its motion and stabilize its position with the tether extended to maximum radius. It continues in a great circle for another encounter with the atmosphere every 66 minutes.

Every hour, somewhere in the world, another tail-less C-17 Globemaster is taking off and climbing to meet its rendezvous with the Skyhook....