That huge airplane is more impressive to me than the rocket ship that went into “space”.
I agree. A launch platform that can reach 40k+ feet prevents the need for a launch pad and lots of rocket fuel.
I’m curious whether Virgin Orbit or Virgin Galactic will start human orbital flights. This has the potential for extremely fast antipodal travel (<2hr vs 18hrs for halfway araound the world). There have to be significant military applications. The commercial impact would take some time.