Staging | space flight | Britannica (original) (raw)

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major reference

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  In launch vehicle: Stages
  A basic approach to launch vehicle design, first suggested by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, is to divide the vehicle into “stages.” The first stage is the heaviest part of the vehicle and has the largest rocket engines, the largest fuel and oxidizer tanks, and the highest…
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spaceflight

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  In spaceflight: Staging
  Because it is very difficult to achieve the high speed required to achieve orbit, launch vehicles need several stages to reach that speed. The technique of staging uses two or more rocket systems mounted in linear sequence. Initially, the rearmost, or first, stage is…
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