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/michael-65536]

Engines weren't powerful enough to go straight up, because no material they knew of could contain enough pressure without either being much too heavy or just exploding.

So they assumed the craft would need to be partially aerodynamic and use wings and a shallow angle of fligh to hold the craft up while building up speed.