Just saw it yesterday. I liked every scene, i liked the rangers' design, i liked the robots. I liked how the story wraps up loose ends, even if i could tell some of the plot twists 15min. in the movie. But, again, that happens me with many sci-fi movies. And i liked the poem as hell. Basically, i agree. They probably were on a budget anyways for the ship, and even if they were SSTO they hadn't infinite fuel, using a vector to send them up would make them arrive with almost full fuel tank, without the need for another ship to be sent up to top off the tank. Also, Rule of Cool. Big saturn-like rockets are awesome.