00:00Why doesn't SpaceX just launch their rockets from the air?
00:03It seems like it would be easier than dealing with all the ground infrastructure needed for a rocket launch.
00:09Well, it turns out, they actually have a really good reason for doing it the way they do it.
00:14You see, the main reason that SpaceX launches their rockets from the ground
00:18is because they need to be pointed very precisely in the direction they want the rocket to go.
00:24And the easiest way to do that is to simply point the rocket while it's on the ground.
00:30If you try to point a rocket in midair, it's going to be much harder to do that accurately.
00:35Now, there are some potential advantages to launching from the air.
00:38For example, you could potentially fly over the ocean and then launch your rocket into space,
00:45which would mean that you wouldn't have to worry about the rocket falling back down to Earth
00:49and potentially causing damage.
00:51But this isn't really a big deal for SpaceX,
00:53because they have their rockets landing on drones in the ocean,
00:57so they're already doing that.
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