[bosdev]

The first stage is significantly larger and therefore more expensive than the second.

My guess is the first full-reuse rocket you'll see will be the SSTO BFR.

[lorenzhs]

> SSTO BFR

[citation needed] - I don't think BFR is intended to be single-stage to orbit?

[mikeash]

The BFS (spaceship, i.e. second stage) is supposedly going to have enough performance to make orbit on its own as an SSTO, with a tiny payload. It probably won’t ever be used that way, though.

[fooker]

Human beings going for a 7 day trip around the moon is a tiny payload and some people would pay ..say.. ~ 300 million for a ticket, I would guess.

[mikeash]

You need supplies to keep those humans alive for a week, and a huge amount of fuel to boost the ship into a moon-intersecting orbit. Not a tiny payload by any means.

[fooker]

What if it is refueled in orbit? The BFS presentations hinted at that ability.

[stetrain]

To get other BFSes up there with enough fuel to transfer a useful amount would require them to use the first stage booster instead of just being SSTO.

Really there's no point to doing an SSTO launch in practice since the BFR first stage will in theory be just as reusable (if not more so) than the BFS second stage. Using the first stage booster greatly improves payload to orbit and has relatively low marginal cost once you've built and tested the whole system.

[mikeash]

You could, but I’d hesitate to call the result an SSTO, and you’d be better off using the whole BFR stack anyway.

Orbital refueling is critical for the Mars plans. BFR can’t launch for Mars without it, so the capability will definitely be there.