It never said left Earth orbit. It said terrestrial. Just means a rocky planet.

Actually its pretty cool, If i stand in the engine nacel and reach up to the center of the turbine i can aonly barley reach it. The engines about about 12-13 feet tall.

the 777 and 777x can run on just one engine for a very long distance. Its not an issue.

You dont need the 4 engine redundancy. The 747 uses 4 smaller engines relative to size where as the 777 and 777x use much larger engines that can actually support the whole plane on just one engine for a long time.

the 747-8 is the current version they are going to be replacing the Air Force ones that are in use now.

also 787 is WAAAAAAAAAAY too small. I think it’ll be the 777x

Doubt the 747 will be around in 2024

The 747 most likely wont be around in 2024. But the government wont buy a plane from a french company. Most likely they would get a Boeing 777x (the plane i will be working on :P) After the 747 its the largest plane Boeing makes and it’ll be the most fuel efficient in its class once we start making it.