162) “All NASA and other “space agencies” rocket launches never go straight up. Every rocket forms a parabolic curve, peaks out, and inevitably starts falling back to Earth. The rockets which are declared “successful” are those few which don’t explode or start falling too soon but make it out of range of spectator view before crashing down into restricted waters and recovered. There is no magic altitude where rockets or anything else can simply go up, up, up and then suddenly just start “free-floating” in space. This is all a science-fiction illusion created by wires, green-screens, dark pools, some permed hair and Zero-G planes.”

You are correct, rockets don’t launch straight up. That’s the last correct thing you say, though.

Why should they go straight up? That would be very foolish. Do you think they shoot up directly away from the ground at right angles, reach their intended orbital height, then stop dead and do a 90 degree turn to start orbiting? That’s physically impossible. 

You can’t just stop a dead, killing the forward velocity  You’d have to do a big, fuel-hungry rocket burn in the opposite direction to stop the spacecraft, then another fuel-wasting burn sideways to get it moving alone it’s orbital path. Even is that was physically possible, it would require more fuel than any rocket could lift.

So, instead, everyone in the world launching a spacecraft or satellite send it in a parabolic arc, curving over and using it’s own “weight” to pull it over into the planned orbit. That is the efficient, practical way to do it.

And if you don’’t believe NASA, The European Space Agency or the Indian or Chinese space agencies, or Virgin   or Mars One,  or Inspiration Mars Foundation,  or Bigelow Aerospace or  SpaceX or every engineer who understands anything, ask a mathematician. Which way makes sense?