It seems the fact that we do have a viable technology for interplanetary and possibly interstellar travel deserves a mention here, as long as you’re mentioning chemical rockets. In fact, we had a superior technology for decades.

The nuclear powered engines where quite extensively tested, producing specific impulse well in excess of theoretical limits of chemical rockets.

The subject is covered in good detail in James Mahaffey popular books, and more technical sources are also available, e.g. books by R.W. Bussard and R.D. DeLauer.

It appears the reasons these technologies were not (being) adopted are largely political, which is a shame.

Good news there’s been some recent interest in this mode of propulsion, e.g. BWXT doing a project for NASA.

Nuclear thermal rocket — Wikipedia