re: What about glider/parasail/parafoil etc?
All of these solutions can be made to work under certain circumstances. There is no "one best idea" for all uses. A wide range of parameters, including non-technical ones, has to be considered.
If there's a low-cost launch concept that Gary Hudson, I, and others haven't gnawed over at some time in the past thirty years, I don't know what it is.
BTW, there was a version of Gemini that was intended to return under parasail, and land on skids.