Electrically, rail guns and coil guns. The problem here is the rate of acceleration would turn most organisms into pancakes unless employing a VERy long rail/tube. These methods, esp. rail guns, require massive amounts of current, on the order of mega-amperes.
A hybrid of conventional jet turbine engine technology, scram jet, and rocket could get one to space starting from an airport.
Lighter-than-air solutions (balloons/dirigibles) could conceivably play a role. Imagine a lighter-than-air airport at 50,000 feet ASL.
More futuristic modes like macro wave galaxies and teleportation are beyond our 21st century horizons but may someday be feasible.
Yes, there are indeed MANY options besides the "obvious" booster rocket approach; commercialization of space exploration brings the creativity of the free market to bear (in sharp contradistinction to the President's position that "it takes government" to accomplish such feats).
Kudos for your creativity and alacrity to think outside the box.
When you consider that everything else in life has gotten better and more efficient, it just seems out of place to be still using technology that is 60 years old and so inefficient.
Rice University Carbon Nanotube Breakthrough Has Implications for Space Applications
Good answer. I saw a video that gave me a better outlook. The Sun is traveling through space at 486,000 MPH. The earth is doing the same thing while rotating around the sun.
So if I was able to fly out into outer space and “stop”, would everything continue to move on without me or would I be sucked up into the system and flow along?