While humanity has conquered the stars, exiting a planet’s atmosphere and gravity well remains a nontrivial task. Far, far more accessible, yes, but something that requires a bit of effort. Smaller vessels are broken up into two distinct categories: VTAVs(Vertical take off air vehicles) and VTOVs(Vertical take off orbital vehicles). Any contemporary aircraft is capable of lifting off vertically under its own power. Runways have all but disappeared, replaced with landing pads of various sizes. VTAVs are craft that can only operate within a planet’s atmosphere, and do not have the power to go into space. Notable types in this category are military gunships and rotorcraft, along with civilian transport vessels. Besides improvements in efficiency and power, not much has changed in terms of how atmospheric craft operate.
VTOVs are craft that can operate in both atmosphere and space. They must not only be equipped with thrusters capable of sending them into space, but also an energy shield, so the craft can survive re-entry. The less advanced VTOVs, ones that do not expect to do any complex maneuvers, will have bulky rotating thrusters on the sides of the ship. More advanced designs, like supremacy fighters, have several smaller jets placed on the top and bottom of the ship inside the hull. This enables precise acrobatics in space, along with rapid turns in atmosphere. However, most VTOVs will use the prior design philosophy, as it is much more simple and cheaper to produce. As personal FTL travel is virtually unheard of, most smaller craft will only be traveling from the hangar bay of a ship down to a planet, nothing that necessitates complex engineering.