[snrplfth]

For sure - but it's been good enough for a while. Consider the McDonnell Douglas DC-X in 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X

[greglindahl]

DC-XA set a height record of 10,000 feet, and pretty much goes straight up and down. So it proved out most of what Blue Origin's suborbital rocket does, and the last part of what SpaceX's first stage does, but not the re-entry burn and flying a cylinder stuff.