To reduce the size and weight of the vehicle, the hydrogen fuel was to be stored in eight external jettisonable tanks. The tanks were jettisoned and then recovered by parachute as they were depleted during ascent to orbit. The earlier fully reusable "ROOST" concept was thus rejected since it did not leave much margin for growth in vehicle structure mass.

The total life cycle cost would have been $10 billion [1964 $'s] over 10 years including $4.088 billion for the development program. Bono mentioned the following SSTO RLV-specific advantages : increased reliability since each vehicle has a history, reduced development cost & complexity vs. multi-stage vehicles, economies of scale possible since plug nozzle engine units & tanks could be mass produced. The estimated direct launch cost was $22.4 million (=$28/lb. to a 568km orbit at 1964 economic conditions) and the planned vehicle turnaround time about 76 days. Bono also mentioned a direct operations cost goal of $12/lb (5-6 reuses) - $5/lb (>20 reuses) for a vehicle payload capability of 450t by the year 1975. In comparison, the Saturn V was then expected to cost $150-250/lb. The vehicle would have used the same Kennedy Space Center facilities as the Saturn boosters, although a new launch pad would have been required (below).