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Nerull t1_jaea6ue wrote

Vertically launching rockets try to get out of the dense atmosphere as quickly as possible, so an air breathing engine wouldn't work for very long - Falcon 9 is above 30000 ft about 1 minute after launch, and above 50000 ft 20 seconds later. The added cost and complexity of another stage for such a short period of the flight aren't really worth it.

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