Why do we have to fly rockets straight up and out of the atmosphere? Why can’t we fly a ship like a plane and just go higher and higher and higher, then rocket booster out past the exosphere. I know the air is thin way up there, so at the highest, tilt upwards and rocket boost
In: Engineering
Don’t have to but, fuel has weight and it takes a lot to reach that height. A large Craft carrying fuel to reach orbit needs to be as light as possible. Apollo fuel load was about one million pounds per stage. Going off memory here, could be wrong. Going straight up reduces forces on the Body of the rocket to mainly length-wise.
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