As the vehicle climbed the pressures dropped off, eventually burning out after 81 seconds. The tank pressure was 32 atm (3,200 kPa 470 psi) for the RP-1 and 17 atm (1,700 kPa 250 psi) for the LOX, providing a chamber pressure of 20 atm (2,000 kPa 290 psi) at liftoff. The first stage was to be powered by a single 36,000,000 kgf (350 MN 79,000,000 lbf) thrust engine burning RP-1 and LOX ( liquid oxygen). The system would be at least partially reusable with passive reentry and recovery of rocket sections for refurbishment and relaunch. It would use wide engineering margins with strong simple materials to further enhance reliability and reduce cost and complexity. The rocket would be built at a sea-side shipbuilder and towed to sea for launch. To lower the cost of the rocket, he intended it to be built of inexpensive materials, specifically 8 mm steel sheeting. Truax had already experimented with this basic system in the Sea Bee and Sea Horse. In this orientation the payload at the top of the second stage was just above the waterline, making it easy to access. A large ballast tank system attached to the bottom of the first-stage engine bell was used to 'hoist' the rocket vertical for launch. Truax's basic idea was to produce a low-cost heavy launcher, a concept now called ' big dumb booster.' To lower the cost of operation, the rocket itself was launched from the ocean, requiring little in the way of support systems. As of 2018, among rockets that have been fully conceived but not built, it is by far the largest ever and, in terms of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO), equaled only by the Interplanetary Transport System concept (the predecessor to SpaceX Starship) in the latter's expendable configuration with both designed for 550 tonnes.

With dimensions of 150 m (490 ft) long and 23 m (75 ft) in diameter, Sea Dragon would have been the largest rocket ever built. Although there was some interest at both NASA and Todd Shipyards, the project was not implemented.

The project was led by Robert Truax while working at Aerojet, one of a number of designs he created that were to be launched by floating the rocket in the ocean. The Sea Dragon was a 1962 conceptualized design study for a two-stage sea-launched orbital super heavy-lift launch vehicle.

Easy rocketship drawing