The rocket need not carry people or any payload. It only needa to be big enough to escape earths atmosphere. Why is this so hard to accomplish?
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Because rockets are complicated things.
First of all, they need to be pretty big because it takes a lot of fuel to go that high and that fast.
Second, being big means a lot of rocket parts can’t be made in your ordinary machine shop. You need specialized tools, machines, and expertise to make much of the rocket.
Third, they need to be light enough to fly, which means everything in there needs to be optimized. Which means a lot of engineering time and a lot of testing.
Fourth, rocket experiences extreme conditions in operation (heat, forces, vibration, …), which means it needs special materials, and again, special effort in terms of engineering and testing.
Fifth, there’s a bunch of complicated systems in there. Structures, mechanism, hydraulics, electronics, fuel systems… A bunch of stuff needs to work together to make the rocket fly, which again means a lot of engineering, a lot of testing, a lot of complexity during manufacturing.
Sixth, all of this requires an army of highly trained engineers and technicians gathered under dozens of companies with specialized knowhow who all put together their knowledge to make something that can reliably fly.
There’s probably many more reasons.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fG_lnVhHw&t=1697s&ab_channel=SmarterEveryDay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fG_lnVhHw&t=1697s&ab_channel=SmarterEveryDay)
This video shows one small part of what it takes to make a rocket.
Btw., all of this assumes you want your rocket to do something useful in space. If you just want to send come fireworks above the atmosphere, that’s not all that difficult or expensive in the 21st century.
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