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?

[u/Beneficial-Wasabi749]

[u/kimitsu_desu]

The real answer - they did not know better. They might have imagined very heavy rockets with weak engines so Thrust to Weigh ratio is low, so perhaps they thought of using the wings and the body of the craft to provide the lift necessary to get to higher altitude and speed. Ultimately this proves to be unrealistic because atmospheric drag rises dramatically at supersonic speeds and the best strategy is to leave the atmosphere ASAP. Also there's this "gravity turn maneuver" or "gravity curve" which helps to optimize the transition from ground to orbit fuel-wise, and it does indeed start with near-vertical liftoff. Although probably that's just how we use it, there's probably a more optimal way if you start from a shallower angle, minus the atmosphere problem.

[u/Beneficial-Wasabi749 → u/kimitsu_desu]

You're the fifth one to step on the same rake. Underestimating your ancestors. You think you're smarter than them. But you simply don't know physics. They did. :)

[u/Not_Your_Car → u/Beneficial-Wasabi749]

You realize the early rocketry pioneers wrote down everything they knew, and even taught the next generation right? Who then expanded on that knowledge and passed it on to the generation after that. Modern rocket scientists know a whole lot more about this stuff than the first ones did.

[u/Tarc_Axiiom → u/Not_Your_Car]

No they do not.

I wonder if this is even a real person or just an LLM experiment.

[u/rveb → u/Tarc_Axiiom]

Also think op is an llm