Supermarionated goodness
Found this a couple of days ago - a slightly jazzed up run through the Zero-X assembly sequence from "Thunderbirds are Go":
For those who have no idea what the above aircraft is for, it's a fictional rocket designed to take men to Mars and back. It assembles on the ground, takes off like an airplane and climbs to a high altitude, then the wings detach and glide back to the ground remotely while the rocket thrusts out of the atmosphere. When it comes home, the wings re-couple mid flight and it comes back down as it took off. The concept might sound rather elaborate, but curiously enough, it is actually used today, notable by Spaceships One and Two, the first privately built re-usable space vehicles. They both use a wing-assisted take off mechanism, although the rocket glides back down on its own air surfaces.
Click to viewFor those who have no idea what the above aircraft is for, it's a fictional rocket designed to take men to Mars and back. It assembles on the ground, takes off like an airplane and climbs to a high altitude, then the wings detach and glide back to the ground remotely while the rocket thrusts out of the atmosphere. When it comes home, the wings re-couple mid flight and it comes back down as it took off. The concept might sound rather elaborate, but curiously enough, it is actually used today, notable by Spaceships One and Two, the first privately built re-usable space vehicles. They both use a wing-assisted take off mechanism, although the rocket glides back down on its own air surfaces.