[Eli5] Why do planes need huge wings but space rockets don’t ?
In: Physics
Space rockets do not intend to generate lift with the wings. Where rockets do have wings it is mostly to help control it through the atmosphere. The exception to this was the Space Shuttle which had rather large wings as the Air Force wanted it to be able to glide for long distances so they could perform certain mission profiles which would have made it reenter the atmosphere far from any landing site. They never performed any of these mission profiles. The wings were however quite small compared to airplanes as they had a lot of height to use when gliding meaning that they had no issue doing more falling then gliding.
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