How much can we justify spending?

[ezdays]

We're so far off topic now nobody will notice anyway, Les.

Space ships have wings because the wings come in the fighter plane kits that are the basis for the kit-bashes! Seriously, because Hollywoody doesn't know squat about physics.

What do rockets push against? Third Law of Motion- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We know this to be true because it applies to everything that happens in space right now.

I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about Hollywood not knowing much about science and other things including criminology, they prove that over and over, but I think that wings in this case do provide a valuable function. Where else would you mount all that gear? Engines, fuel tanks, weapons and most important, landing gears? These things all fit well in this configuration. Remember too, the space shuttles all had wings with landing gears attached so they could glide to a landing here on earth.

And as far as staying on topic.... hey, who's keeping track? It's interesting how a topic can stray and how much you can learn because of it. Some other forums will slap your hand if you stray from a topic, here, we're used to it and are surprised when a thread does stay on topic for very long.