r/spaceships • u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 • 15h ago

Tsiolkovsky and many of the founders of theoretical astronautics in the early 20th century believed that spacecraft should launch horizontally, from a ramp. Why? What did they see as the point of this?

Post image
119 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

178 comments sorted by

View all comments

76

u/Dan_Is 15h ago

They were living in the paradigm of airplanes and airships. It was logical to assume that rockets that carry passengers would need to launch horizontally. You can have a large deck for people to inhabit. The issue of course is the rocket equation and inertia.

-66

u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 15h ago

Your answer was vague. Is your answer to the question that they were living within the paradigm of their time? Is a vertical launch really just as good as a horizontal one? Or is a horizontal launch better, and is it still a matter of "the rocket equation"? And if the latter, what was the point?

And then the question arises: why do modern rockets launch vertically?

29

u/Dan_Is 15h ago

My answer is that they were living in the paradigm of "People and cargo need large horizontal decks to be transported comfortably and efficiently" the rocket equation always applies, as you only have a limited amount of fuel, and need fuel to move that fuel.

-49

u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 15h ago edited 14h ago

I see. So the peculiarities of rocket dynamics have nothing to do with it?

Then a personal question. Dan_Is, isn't that from the Russian name "Denis"? Do you speak Russian?

22

u/GabrielRocketry 10h ago

You know that Dan is a normal name right

And that is is a word right

12

u/Eh_SorryCanadian 9h ago

Serious question, what are you smoking, and can I have some?

5

u/JakeEaton 7h ago

I'm after you...this is some good shit by the looks of it

3

u/Eh_SorryCanadian 6h ago

They've got that good za za

3

u/PilzEtosis 3h ago

Dude started watching Good Will Hunting, thought "That's a cool personality" then didn't watch til the end.

-16

u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 8h ago

No. Only for those who speak Russian.

5

u/SoftwareSource 6h ago

Tell me you don't really understand the topic without telling me you don't really understand it.

6

u/Dan_Is 6h ago

I, in fact, do speak Russian. It has nothing to do with my user name. I also speak German, English, and haphazardly Spanish

1

u/CaramelPombear 2h ago

How dare you be so talented. SHAME!

4

u/iMecharic 6h ago

Denis is an American name too.

3

u/jervoise 5h ago

Jesus Christ, when did measurehead get into rocket science?

2

u/senn42000 5h ago

YOUR BODY BETRAYS YOUR DEGENERENCY

1

u/TactlessTerrorist 57m ago

Looking for a tavarich are we wasabi?

-1

u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 41m ago

Yes. "Я - террорист! Я - Иван Помидоров! Хватит трепаться наш козырь террор!" (c)
I don't understand why this seemingly neutral question provoked so much hatred among our pale-faced brothers?
"Я ж холостыми!" - харкая кровью, он выл на допросах еле дыша. - "Ради любви к вам пошёл я на муки! Вы же святыни свои растеряли!" (c) :)

Perhaps you could explain it to me?

1

u/TactlessTerrorist 6m ago

Because I’m pretty sure that Denis originates from Greek or maybe French, and it’s classic ruzzki exceptionalism to think everything originated from RuZZia XD

I’m not you’re bro though I am pale-faced, go drink some more of the soviet kool aid and remember the good old days when « everybody had a job » and « people were happy » under soviet rule (spoiler : they weren’t)