Favorite 1957-2018 rocket?

[StupidAndy]

will I anger anyone by saying falcon heavy?  

[razark]

1 hour ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Not a rocket

Sorry, my mistake.  I thought this was the "Favorite bicycle" thread.

 

How is the X-15 not a rocket?  Because it's air launched, like a Pegasus?  It's sub-orbital like a Mercury Redstone?  Is it the fact that it has wings and lands on a runway, like a Space Shuttle Orbiter?  Or that it's reusable, like a Falcon?  Is it the fact that its engine breathes air like a fish?

Edited January 10, 2018 by razark

[linuxgurugamer]

7 hours ago, razark said:

Sorry, my mistake.  I thought this was the "Favorite bicycle" thread.

 

How is the X-15 not a rocket?  Because it's air launched, like a Pegasus?  It's sub-orbital like a Mercury Redstone?  Is it the fact that it has wings and lands on a runway, like a Space Shuttle Orbiter?  Or that it's reusable, like a Falcon?  Is it the fact that its engine breathes air like a fish?

It is a rocket-powered plane. 

Of course, just my opinion.

8 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

The Saturn V was pretty cool. But it didn't perform perfectly. It worked, but it was far from perfect. Also, they did have computers, but they were pretty awful compared to modern hardware. "Spacewar!" predates the Saturn V, one of the earliest video games

Let's see.  No failures, every launch went well.  Of course the early launches had issues, some of which were never resolved. 

The computers were not used to design the Saturn V.  It was designed using sliderules.  And I never said they didn't have computers.

8 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Well, how are we defining rocket? It's certainly a rocket-propelled plane...

Anyways, my favorite is Titan III-E, because if you're going to strap solid boosters onto an existing LV you may as well commit to the idea. None of this messing around with puny GEM-60 or AJ-60 boosters - if your solids aren't at least as big around as your liquid core you're doing it wrong. Bonus points for the enormous fairing.

IMHO, the fact that a plane is propelled by a rocket ENGINE does not make it a rocket.  Rockets are, by definition, wingless, and (usually) launch vertically.

[razark]

47 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

It is a rocket-powered plane. 

So it's a rocket, then?

 

47 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Rockets are, by definition, wingless...

Then the Space Shuttle's out, too?  Pegasus, too.

Edited January 10, 2018 by razark

[linuxgurugamer]

I see we are now descending into a rabbit hole (for those who don't know the reference, it's from Alice in Wonderland)

Anyway, I didn't mean to get a huge thing going here, I was just commenting on a single rocketplane, and then it just went downhill from there.

Let's please stop this, and get back to the topic, I will refrain from commenting on rocket-powered planes; since a number of you seem to feel it belongs in this topic, it's not up to me to decide what should and should not be here.

[NSEP]

According to google, a plane is a a flying vehicle without the need of flapping its wings to glide, and a rocket is a projectile propelled by burning its own contents. So its technically is both according to Google.

[Guest]

How about this definition? 

A rocket:any space-flying vessel with a rocket engine.

And the X-15 is one of my favourites (yes, I have a lot of favorites)

Edited January 10, 2018 by Guest

[Guest]

I like the ESA ariane 5 rocket!