the.com/launch
The moment math, fire, and audacity agree to defy gravity together.
means To set something in motion — to send a vessel into water, fire a rocket skyward, hurl a projectile, or formally start a venture or product.
from From the Old French 'lanchier' or 'lancier,' meaning to hurl or fling, which traces back to the Late Latin 'lanceare,' 'to wield a lance.' The thread runs from 'lancea,' the Roman lance — so to launch is, at root, to throw a spear. The nautical and rocket senses came later, but the bones of the word are still about something flung hard toward a target.
- launch window
- Sometimes mere seconds wide across millions of miles
- fuel weight
- Rockets are mostly propellant, barely any payload
- naval origin
- Word once meant small boats lowered from ships
- go fever
- Pressure to launch despite warnings has killed astronauts
- escape velocity
- Need 25,000 mph to leave Earth entirely
apollo 11 — first crewed moon landing, july 20 1969
spacex falcon 9 — world's first orbital class rocket to successfully land and refly, december 2015
iphone original — apple's first smartphone, june 29 2007, revolutionized mobile devices
titanic maiden voyage — rms titanic's first and only voyage, april 10-15 1912