In space there is no atmosphere, and going from the ground up is harder then dropping from orbit. If you want to fly around the planet, land, take off, land again you could do with wings and wings help create lift to counter atmospheric drag. Even the animal kingdom understood this and birds, dinosaurs evolved to be able to take themselves into the air. StarTrek Shuttlepods do not look like they could fly in any way, take away the phaser drives and tecnobabble and they would fall like a rock. A space elevator is far more plausible than a StarTrek Shuttlepod