Editing Takeoff (section)

==Vertical==
[[File:yellow.balloon.lifts.in.bath.arp.jpg|thumb|upright|Takeoff of a [[hot air balloon]]]]
Vertical takeoff refers to aircraft or rockets that take off in a vertical [[trajectory]]. Vertical takeoff eliminates the need for airfields. Most vertical take off aircraft are also able to land horizontally, but there were certain [[rocket-powered aircraft]] of the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' that only took off vertically, landing in other ways. The [[Bachem Ba 349]] ''Natter'' landed under a parachute after having taken off vertically. Other late projects developed in [[Nazi Germany]], such as the [[Heinkel P.1077]] ''Julia'' or the [[Focke-Wulf Volksjäger|Focke-Wulf ''Volksjäger'' 2]], climbed to their ceiling at a nearly vertical angle and landed later on a skid.<ref>[http://www.wissenschaft-und-frieden.de/seite.php?artikelID=0833 Ulrich Albrecht: Artefakte des Fanatismus; Technik und nationalsozialistische Ideologie in der Endphase des Dritten Reiches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413090345/https://www.wissenschaft-und-frieden.de/seite.php?artikelID=0833 |date=2020-04-13 }} (in German)</ref>

===VTOL===
{{Main|VTOL}}
[[File:US Navy 050423-N-6214F-004 Aviation Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Courtney F. Godfrey runs behind the foul line as a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II- performs a vertical takeoff.jpg|thumb|The [[Harrier jump jet]], a [[VTOL]] aircraft]]
'''Vertical take-off and landing''' ('''VTOL''') [[aircraft]] include [[fixed-wing aircraft]] that can hover, [[takeoff and landing|take off and land]] vertically as well as [[helicopter]]s and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as [[tiltrotor]]s.<ref>"Vertical Takeoff & Landing Aircraft," John P. Campbell, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1962.</ref><ref>Rogers 1989.</ref><ref>Laskowitz, I.B. "Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Aircraft."  ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,'' Vol. 107, Art. 1, 25 March 1963.</ref><ref>"Straight Up - A History of Vertical Flight," Steve Markman and Bill Holder, Schiffer Publishing, 2000.</ref>  Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as [[CTOL]] (conventional take-off and landing), [[STOL]] (short take-off and landing), and/or [[STOVL]] (short take-off and vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking [[landing gear]] that can handle horizontal motion. VTOL is a subset of [[V/STOL]] (vertical and/or short take-off and landing).

Besides the helicopter, there are two types of VTOL aircraft in military service: craft using a [[tiltrotor]], such as the [[Bell Helicopter Textron|Bell]] [[Boeing]] [[V-22 Osprey]], and some aircraft using directed jet thrust such as the [[Harrier jump jet|Harrier family]].

===Rocket launch===
{{Main|Space launch}}
[[File:Space Shuttle Columbia launching.jpg|thumb|[[Space Shuttle]] ''[[Space Shuttle Columbia|Columbia]]'' in the process of lifting off from the launch pad during [[STS-1]]]]
The takeoff phase of the flight of a [[rocket]] is called "rocket launch". Launches for [[orbital spaceflight]]s, or launches into [[interplanetary space]], are usually from a fixed location on the ground, but may also be from a floating platform such as the [[San Marco platform]], or the [[Sea Launch]] launch vessel.