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While a balloon can be pushed by air pressure differences, a rocket is going to require a lot of force due to its weight. A rocket has to produce 7.2 million pounds of thrust to reach escape velocity. Rockets are like balloons because there are imbalanced forces involved in a rocket launch. Both have openings at the back, pressure cannot be applied to an opening but pressure is still being applied to the front of the rocket, launching it. The pressure needed for launch is generated by the force of combustion of the fuel as opposed to the exhaust.