Re: The Pipeline To Space
It's interesting how the ideas circulate around and around. Check out the Dolphin page for more on small ocean launching.
There's no reason a simple launch vehicle has to be unreliable. In fact, there's something to be said for fewer components in any reliability issue. It's not like "white-glove" assembly techniques were used for much of the history of rocket and missile manufacture.
It would have been a piece of cake to get a hell of a lot better launch record than two out of three from that design or a similar one.