“So rocket ship goes up about 1100 feet and then rocket ship comes back down. I guess I don’t get it. What is the big deal about that?”
From an engineering standpoint, stability and engine throttling, that is incredible. Warnr von Braun would crap his pants if he saw that.
Yeah... though McDonald Douglas already did this close to twenty years ago with the DC-X. And that one could fly sideways too. Nowadays even amateur hobbyists are making their rockets hover.