some early vikings found a variety of ways to launch themselves into the stratosphere and invariably died on impact. With the mentioned item, it could be worth a revisit to their humorous designs if you want to check it out. The basic idea is to use roof tiles down a mountain to make a rollercoaster of sorts and ride a ship down and back up to launch. They were constantly repairing the ship on the way down to keep it intact. Another one used the harpoon to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdUJ3inZmoE