Talk:Orion III Spaceplane/@comment-75.149.30.179-20191206191308/@comment-46742539-20200830194021

You are right. The Orion III Spaceplane was an orbiter by definition (if you can match velocity and altitude with an orbiting object, you are in orbit). It was the Orion I Booster Stage that was sub-orbital. It took the Orion III to the edge of space and maybe a bit beyond but it wasn't going fast enough to stay there. It re-entered the atmosphere immediately after separation and glided back to Earth.