Why does space shuttle take off vertically rather than taking off like a normal airplane?

Question

Why does space shuttle take off vertically rather than taking off like a normal airplane?

Answer 1

It's a bit simpler when using rockets to use the thrust of the rockets for the lifting power. Taking off horizontally like an airplane uses engines (or sometimes rockets) to go forward, while the wings use that forward potion to make lift. The space shuttle is immensely heavy because of all the fuel it has to carry to reach orbit. This means it would need impossibly large wings, runways, and other equipment to take off like an airplane. It's a simpler problem to stack all that weight onto the rockets and go straight up. An important thing to note is that the shuttle only lifts off verically, but quickly begins to tip over and start to fly at an angle until it's flying almost parallel to the Earth's surface. A superfast airplane could potentially do the same thing after taking off from a runway if it had engines generating enough power as a jet engine uses oxygen from the atmosphere which decreases weight over the shuttle, which has to carry it's own oxygen. The only thing that makes the shuttle's vertical launch necessary is the tremendous weight.

Answer 2

It's easier to escape the Earth's gravitational pull that way.

Answer 3

The tires are tooooooooo itty bitty to get around that big orange fuel tank. Jeez.

Answer 4

well, for one thing, with the oxygen tank attached, the landing gear does not make contact with the ground, and for another as someone already said to escape the earths gravity as quickly as possible.

Answer 5

The space shuttle does not take off vertically on its own. It is taken off by the launch rocket. This arrangement is done so that the shuttle can reach the 'escape velocity' which is required to escape the gravitation pull of the earth in the shortest possible time. The shuttle cannot take off by itself like a conventional aircraft because it has no power of its own to get airborne.

Answer 6

Because it needs to exit our atmosphere rather quickly

Answer 7

the sheer weight, design, and the control aspect make a vertical takeoff nessiary

Answer 8

It has to get out of atmosphere, with velocity much higher( 11km/s)and thrust on earth should be higher to achieve that velocity hence it goes straight and then settles for horizontle.

Answer 9

The shuttle takes off vertically for three reasons. 1: it is a shorter distance to takeoff vertically and go 122 miles (nautical) up than to takeoff horizontally and go 122 miles up. 2: It takes alot of fuel just to lift the fuel. The orbiter itself (where the astronauts sit during liftoff) only weighs about 270,000 pounds (weight varies depending on the mission) at liftoff which is about 6 percent of the overall weight of the entire shuttle "stack" which weights about 4.5 million pounds altogether (Orbiter, External Fuel tank, and Solid rocket boosters plus the fuel).

3: Fuel conservation, as mentioned by someone else it takes a lot of fuel to takeoff horizontally than it does to takeoff vertically

Answer 10

because the shuttle needs to be doing a certain speed, in the thousands of mph to exit the earth's atmosphere. by taking off vertically; it enables it to do this quicker