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
The quickest way to get out of the atmosphere is to go straight up. Why do you believe it would be quicker to go at an angle? To get into orbit you need substantial velocity, and the atmosphere makes that more difficult, so job #1 is to get out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible using the shortest route (up), and THEN go sideways the build up the necessary velocity.
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