Why do space rockets not take off like planes (i.e. straight up vs sideways and up)?
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With enough thrust and no atmosphere a rocket would actually be more efficient at taking off horizontally. It would be a typical hohmann maneuver with the starting point at very low altitude. This would work on a perfectly spherical body with zero atmospheric drag. Rockets only go up first to get out of the thick atmosphere and to have enough time to reach orbital velocity.
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