This video of a space shuttle launch is probably the best video with the best audio I've seen of a launch.
The shuttle, the booster rockets, and the fuel weighed about two million kilograms. It needs to be accelerated to an orbital velocity that depends on the altitude to which it is supposed to reach. At about 240 km, the velocity requried to stay in orbit is a little over 27,000 km/h. It takes a lot of power to accelerate the shuttle to that velocity particularly because it reaches the orbit in about 8-9 minutes.
What the booster rockets burn is pure hydrogen. The temperature of the hot gases emerging from the back of the rocket is about 4000 C.
The shuttle program was discontinued because of high costs. It's quite remarkable that the private sector is already capable of providing orbital launches. SpaceX has reusable rockets that are capable of powered landing.
Check this out:
