Basically the post title, wouldn’t it be faster to go through the atmosphere at an angle instead of pushing up through the atmosphere? Is it possible to launch a spaceship this way?
I never took high school physics so this may be an exceptionally dumb question.
Edit: Thanks for all the explanations! I understand why now
In: Physics
Airplanes go sideways because they use wings to create lift. Rockets go (mostly) vertically because they need to get away from earth’s surface and into orbit quickly because they can only carry so much fuel.
Going straight up gets you out of the atmosphere a lot faster than going sideways and slowly climbing. Also, the effectiveness of wings diminishes as the atmosphere thins, so the rocket would have to be going insanely fast while still in the atmosphere just to maintain lift. It’s far easier to just punch straight up, get out of the atmosphere, then establish an orbit.
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