The rocket engines we had in 1950 are as good as we have today. You can add a little carbon fiber to the ship to make it lighter but 95% of the mass is fuel an

The rocket engines we had in 1950 are as good as we have today. You can add a little carbon fiber to the ship to make it lighter but 95% of the mass is fuel anyway, so you don't win much. Rockets going to space is a basic physics problem with no post 1950 innovations that give you huge wins. Hence why re-usability to bring costs down is what everyone is focusing on, it is about all you can do. Maybe raptor will prove to be a wee bit better than the best engines of the 1950s but only a bit.