KingDaveRa

Blackadder 1 and Blackadders 2 - 4 are completely different shows. The latter three being streets ahead.

Blackadder goes Forth still has one of the best bits of Sitcom pathos ever.

This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but why do rockets have to be SO incredibly complex? Surely after all the years of development and progress in building them, they could be simplified and made cheaper. Or are they relatively simpler and thus cheaper than they used to be?

Also, I've always been confused as to why a rocket as we know them is necessary. I understand the earth's gravity has to be escaped, but can that not be achieved by launching like a normal plane, and spiralling up, then perhaps using some sort of smaller rocket motor to push out of the last bit of atmosphere? The U2 spy plane can get pretty high, so if it had a small rocket strapped to it, could it get higher? Expanding on that idea, something the size of a 747 could theoretically do the same? Or could it?

Many old shows seems to be turning up on DVD or on On Demand streaming services. Yet Spitting Image seems oddly missing. Any ideas why this is? I was too young to really enjoy it at the time, but I'd love to see it again.

Even a show like Drop the Dead Donkey is still available, and still funny (and relevant). Ditto Yes Minister/Prime Minister, so I can't imagine context/time has anything to do with it.

I suppose all that circling up to get to altitude uses a lot of fuel anyway. Makes sense!

I know the Skylon is meant to sort of work to bridge the gap between the air-breathing engine and the rocket, but it's still incredibly experimental.

So I suppose the long and short of it is, if you're going to use a rocket to launch you into the last little bit of space, you may as well use a rocket to launch you all the way. Makes sense.

Thanks for the reply. :)

One fun fact I see is that our SLS rocket has the thrust of 135 jet engines on a 747 jet.

That's just insane! Considering how powerful a 747's engines are anyway, that's quite something! Although I'd quite like to see a 747 with SLS engines ;)