Rockets are becoming old-fashioned, China building hypersonic railgun

China plans to employ the electromagnetic railgun to catapult spacecraft equivalent in size to a Boeing 737, with a mass of 50 tonnes, directly into space. China's ambitious project involves the utilization of a massive electromagnetic track designed to accelerate a hypersonic vehicle to Mach 1.6, enabling the craft to separate, ignite its engine, and ascend into near space at velocities seven times faster than sound.