Something I've never understood that maybe some more tech/engineering savvy folks could help me gain knowledge in...
Why do we have to use unreal amounts of fuel and have to be such slaves to the most precise physics imaginable on a controlled burn to get safely out of the atmosphere with rockets? That one Red Bull guy set the world record for highest free fall by using a balloon - surely we could make a hot air balloon system to carry a rocket out of the atmosphere gradually? Safely exit, and then from that vantage point be much more economical with fuel useage.