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Spaceplane
| Lofer Mystery Craft German manned spaceplane. Hardware construction stage, 1945. There exist in US Army postwar files a murky photo of what some think is a large-scale mock-up of the Saenger antipodal bomber, taken in Lofer, Austria after the end of the World War II. |
| Nonweiler Waverider British manned spaceplane. Study 1951. The Nonweiler Waverider of the 1950`s was the original caret wing waverider concept. Developed by Professor Terence R F Nonweiler, of Queen's University, Belfast. |
 | X-15A American air-launched manned spaceplane, used for hypersonic research. 174 launches, 1959.06.08 (X-15 Flight 1) to 1968.10.24 (X-15 Flight 199). The X-15 was the first USAF and NASA project for manned spaceflight, initiated years before Mercury. |
 | VKA Myasishchev M-48 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1957. Myasishchev's first VKA design was a diminutive single-crew star-shaped spaceplane that could be launched by Korolev's R-7 ICBM. |
| Ames Mach 10 Demonstrator American manned spaceplane. Ames proposed in 1957 to air-launch a high-wing designed hypersonic glider from a B-36 bomber. Early versions would use an XLR-99-powered booster stage and be capable of reaching Mach 6. |
| M1 Manufacturer's designation for [Mars M1] mars orbiter. |
 | Raketoplan Russian manned spaceplane family. Succeeding the VKA project, this was developed by Chelomei from 1959, including suborbital hardware tests, before cancellation in 1964. Succeeded by the Spiral program. |
| M2b Version of M2 lifting body proposed in 1958 as an alternate to the Dynasoar winged glider configuration. |
 | Buran M-48 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1958. In 1958 the VVS (Soviet Air Force) requested development as quickly as possible of high-speed aerospace vehicles. |
 | PKA Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1959. Tsybin's VKA design was called the gliding spacecraft (PKA), and would be inserted into orbit by a Vostok launch vehicle. |
| Armstrong Whitworth Waverider British manned spaceplane. Study 1960. The Armstrong Whitworth Waverider study of the 1950`s called for a two-crew waverider spacecraft powered by a second stage atop a British Blue Streak rocket. |
| Hawker Siddeley Waverider-1960 British manned spaceplane. Study 1960. An ambitious Blue Streak / Waverider design study was conducted by Hawker Siddeley Aviation in the 1960's. The project was led by Peter A E Stewart, Astronautics Section, Advanced Projects Group. |
 | VKA-23 Design 1 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1960. Myasishchev single-pilot winged spacecraft of 1960, sized for launch to orbit by Korolev's Vostok booster. |
 | VKA-23 Design 2 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1957. Following the very critical review of the first M-48 spaceplane design by the expert commission, Myasishchev went back to the drawing board. |
 | Kehlet Lenticular Vehicle American manned spaceplane. Study 1961. Alan B. Kehlet of NASA's Space Task Group New Projects Panel, worked at NASA Langley and first conceived of his lenticular manned spacecraft design in 1959. |
 | M2-F2 American manned spaceplane. Study 1966. The least stable of the lifting body designs. The 'flying bathtub' had a rounded belly / flat top layout as opposed to the flat belly / rounded top of the other designs. |
 | Convair Shuttlecraft American manned spaceplane. Study 1962. Convair concept for a winged shuttle vehicle, early 1960's. |
 | Asset American manned spaceplane. 6 launches, 1963.09.18 (ASSET 1) to 1965.02.23 (ASSET 6). One part of the Dynasoar manned spaceplane project was ASSET ( 'Aerothermodynamic Elastic Structural Systems Environmental Tests') . |
 | Dynasoar American manned spaceplane. Cancelled 1963. The X-20A Dynasoar (Dynamic Soarer) was a single-pilot manned reusable spaceplane, really the earliest American manned space project to result in development contracts. |
 | Astrocommuter American manned spaceplane. The Lockheed Astrocommuter was a 1963 design for a manned space shuttle that would use the Saturn 1B as a first stage. |
 | Bono Saucer American manned spaceplane. Study 1963. In 1963 Phil Bono of Douglas Aircraft considered a lenticular configuration for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable booster. This was the largest application found to date for the lenticular concept. |
 | Lockheed Space Taxi American manned spaceplane. Study 1963. Lockheed investigated the economics of reusable launch vehicles for crews and light space station cargo during the early 1960s. Lockheed proposed a new reusable 10-man spaceplane as a follow-on to the Apollo CSM. |
 | Lockheed RTTOCV Lockheed sled-launched ten-crew winged orbital launch vehicle design of 1963, a result of NASA-funded studies with several contractors on Operations and Logistics for Space Stations. |
| McDonnell Spaceplane 1963 American manned spaceplane. Study 1963. In June 1962 NASA funded studies with several contractors on Operations and Logistics for Space Stations. |
 | Spiral OS Russian manned spaceplane, developed 1965-1980s, including subscale flight article tests. Evolved into the MAKS spaceplane. The Spiral was an ambitious air-launched manned space system designed in the 1960's. |
 | X-15A-2 American manned spaceplane. The crash-damaged X-15 number 2 was rebuilt to attain even higher speeds. The body frame was stretched, and two drop tanks were added, increasing propellant load by 75%. Reached Mach 6.7 and 108 km altitude. |
| Janus American manned spaceplane. Study 1965. This TRW design of 1965 used a unique concept - a lifting body main stage, that provided both ascent propulsion and re-entry protection. |
| Salkeld Shuttle American manned spaceplane. 1965 concept for a manned spaceplane equipped with drop tanks, which would be air-launched from a C-5 |
 | M2-F3 American manned spaceplane. 43 launches, 1966.07.12 to 1971.12.21 . The crashed M2-F2 was rebuilt as the M2-F3 with enlarged vertical stabilizers. Maximum speed achieved was Mach 1.6, top altitude 21,800 m. |
 | Prime American manned spaceplane. 3 launches, 1966.12.21 (Prime 1) to 1967.04.19 (Prime 3). The Prime (Precision Recovery Including Maneuvering Entry) project was the second part of the USAF START program. Lifting Body Reentry Testsatellite built by Martin Marietta for USAF. |
 | HL-10 American manned spaceplane. 37 launches, 1966.12.22 to 1970.07.17 . The HL-10 was the favored lifting body configuration of NASA Langley in the 1960's. It reached Mach 1.86 and 27,700 m during its flight tests. |
 | Winged Gemini American manned spaceplane. Study 1966. Winged Gemini was the most radical modification of the basic Gemini reentry module ever considered. |
| FDL ILRV American manned spaceplane. Study 1968. In late 1968 the USAF Flight Dynamics Laboratory proposed its Integrated Launch and Re-entry Vehicle. This was a 1.5 stage-to-orbit concept with an external drop tank. |
| VERAS French manned spaceplane. Study 1968. A Mach 10 spaceplane demonstrator proposed by Nord Aviation in 1968. |
 | X-15A-3 American manned spaceplane. Cancelled 1962. It had been proposed that X-15 number 3 would be reworked to install a delta wing and designed to reach Mach 8. |
 | X-24A American manned spaceplane. 28 launches, 1969.04.17 to 1971.06.04 . The X-24A was the Martin Corporation's subsonic test version of the US Air Force's preferred manned lifting body configuration. |
| MURP American manned spaceplane. The McDonnell Douglas Space Shuttle Phase A studies were conducted under contract NAS9-9204. Their Class I vehicle was dubbed MURP - Manned Upper Reusable Payload. |
| Hawker Siddeley Waverider-1971 British manned spaceplane. Study 1971. The Hawker Siddeley Waverider study of 1971 laid out a space vehicle with a waveriding airbreathing hypersonic first stage, and a rocket propelled, lifting body second stage. |
 | X-24B American manned spaceplane. 36 launches, 1973.08.01 to 1975.11.26 . |
 | Enterprise American manned spaceplane. Study 1974. Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle Orbiter. It was rolled out on September 17, 1976. |
 | X-24C American manned spaceplane. Cancelled 1977. Two X-24C NHFRF (National Hypersonic Flight Research Facility) aircraft were to be built under a $ 200 million budget. |
 | Albatros Russian manned spaceplane. Competitor with Buran. Unique Russian space shuttle design of 1974. Hydrofoil-launched, winged recoverable first and second stages. |
 | MTKVA Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1974, competitor with Buran. Manned lifting body spaceplane, designed by Soviet engineers as a recoverable spacecraft in the early 1970's. |
 | Buran Analogue Russian manned spaceplane. This Buran OK-GLI 'Analogue' was a version of the Buran spaceplane equipped with jet engines to allow it to be flown in handling and landing system tests at subsonic speed in the earth's atmosphere. |
 | MiG 105-11 Russian manned spaceplane. 8 launches, 1976.10.11 to 1978.09.15 . Atmospheric flight test version of the Spiral OS manned spaceplane. The 105-11 incorporated the airframe and some of the systems of the planned orbital version. |
 | System 49 Orbiter Orbiter for the System 49 launch system, with a single crew member. |
 | Tsien Spaceplane 1978 Chinese manned spaceplane. Study late 1970s. Tsien Hsue-shen's manned spacecraft design proposed in the late 1970's was a winged spaceplane, launched by a CZ-2 core booster with two large strap-on boosters. |
 | Columbia American manned spaceplane. Columbia, the first orbiter in the Shuttle fleet, was named after the sloop that accomplished the first American circumnavigation of the globe. |
 | BOR-4 Russian spaceplane. BOR-4 were subscale test versions of the Spiral manned spaceplanes. Built by Molniya, Russia. Launched 1982 - 1984. |
 | LKS Russian manned spaceplane. Mock-up stage when cancelled in 1983. The LKS was a Chelomei design for a reusable manned winged spacecraft, similar to the later European Hermes spaceplane. |
 | Challenger American manned spaceplane. |
 | BOR-5 Russian spaceplane. The aerodynamic characteristics of Buran at hypersonic speeds were validated by the BOR-5 1:8 sub-scale model of Buran. |
 | OK-M Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1984. 1980's design for a spaceplane, smaller than Buran, to replace Soyuz and Progress spacecraft for space station crew rotation/replenishment tasks. |
| Discovery American manned spaceplane. merican manned spaceplane. |
 | OK-M1 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1984. The OK-M1 manned spaceplane was designed by NPO Molniya as a follow-on to the OK-M of NPO Energia. The OK-M1 was an integrated part of a unique launch vehicle, the MMKS reusable multi-module space system. |
 | OK-M2 Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1984. The OK-M2 was a manned spaceplane, a straight delta wing joined to a broad fuselage with an upturned nose. |
| Atlantis American manned spaceplane. The space shuttle Atlantis was the fourth orbiter to become operational at Kennedy Space Center, and the last of the original production run. |
 | Horus German manned spaceplane. Hypersonic Orbital Upper Stage was part of the Saenger-II spaceplane studied in Germany from 1985-1993. It would have separated from the lower stage at Mach 6.6 and flown to orbit. |
 | NASA ACRV American manned spaceplane. Assured Crew Return Vehicle or Astronaut Crew Rescue Vehicle. Study 1986. The early Space Station proposals assumed the facility would be equipped with a 'safe haven' where the crew would wait for a rescue Shuttle in case of emergency. |
| MVKS RKK Energia's proposed solution to the Soviet government's MVKS requirement for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable aerospaceplane system was this 700-metric-ton, turboramjet/rocket propulsion design. Work began in 1986 but abandoned when the Soviet Union collapsed. |
| Yakovlev MVKS Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1986. In reaction to US X-30 project, government decrees of 27 January and 19 July 1986 ordered development of a Soviet equivalent. |
 | HOPE Japanese spaceplane. Study 1986. Like Europe, the National Space Development Agency had big plans to develop a large carrier rocket and manned 'H2 Orbiting Plane' (HOPE). |
 | HL-20 American manned spaceplane. The HL-20 was a 1988 NASA Langley design for a manned spaceplane as a backup to the space shuttle (in case it was abandoned or grounded) and as a CERV (Crew Emergency Return Vehicle) for the Freedom space station. |
 | Buran Russian manned spaceplane which represented a huge leap in Soviet space technology and project management. Buran flew only once, in 1988. The cost of Buran - 14.5 billion rubles - was a significant part of the effort to maintain strategic and technical parity with the United States. In the end it contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and thus the demise of Buran itself. |
 | MAKS series Russian manned spaceplane. Reached advanced stage of development testing and prototype construction when project was cancelled in 1988. The MAKS spaceplane was the ultimate development of the OK-M studies NPO Molniya conducted with NPO Energia. |
 | Tian Jiao 1 Chinese manned spaceplane. Study 1988. The Tian Jiao 1 (Pre-eminent in Space 1) manned spaceplane was proposed by the First Academy (now the China Academy of Launch Technology) in 1988. |
| Tian Jiao 2 Chinese manned spaceplane. Study 2006. What appeared to be an evolved version of 1988's Tian Jiao 1 manned spaceplane concept was proposed by the China Academy of Launch Technology in 2006. A 2020 operational date was mentioned. |
 | Blackstar American manned spaceplane. 2006 reports claimed it was flown covertly in the 1990s. If so, it may have derived from the Isinglass studies of the late 1960's. |
 | Endeavour American manned spaceplane. merican manned spaceplane. Built as a replacement after the loss of the Challenger; named after the first ship commanded by James Cook. |
 | Hermes French manned spaceplane. Cancelled 1992. The Hermes spaceplane would have provided independent European manned access to space. Hermes was designed to take three astronauts to orbits of up to 800 km altitude on missions of 30 to 90 days in space. |
 | HGV American spaceplane. Study 1992. The Hypersonic Glide Vehicle was a USAF project discussed openly in 1987 to 1988, which may have flown as a black project in 1992-1993. |
| Black Colt American manned single-crew spaceplane, follow-up to Black Horse concept. In comparison to Black Horse, used existing engines and a much more achievable mass fraction by only flying to half orbital speed. |
 | X-38 American manned spaceplane. Lifting body reentry vehicle designed as emergency return spacecraft for International Space Station crew. Crew Return Vehicle prototypesatellite built by, Aerojet (DPS) for NASA. |
 | HL-42 American manned spaceplane. The HL-42 was a reusable, lifting body manned spacecraft designed in 1997 to be placed into low-Earth orbit by an expendable booster. |
 | X-43 American spaceplane. Study 1997. NASA's X-43 Hyper-X program demonstrated an integrated hypersonic scramjet engine briefly at Mach 10 on its third and final flight. |
 | LB-X American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital spaceplane concept of Kelly Space & Technology, San Bernardino, California. |
 | VKK Russian manned spaceplane. Study 1998. A Russian concept of the 1990's harking back to Chelomei's Raketoplan of three decades earlier. A manned aircraft would be protected during launch and re-entry by an expendable aeroshell heat shield. |
 | Hyper American spaceplane. |
 | Alflex Japanese spaceplane. Study 2000. Unmanned glider to test technology for Japanese HOPE spaceplane. Wing area 9.45 square meters. |
| Alpex Japanese spaceplane. Study 2000. Kawasaki unmanned glider to test technologies for HOPE spaceplane. Wing area 7.57 square meters. |
 | X-37 American unmanned spaceplane. The Boeing X-37 Space Maneuver Vehicle began as a subscale version of a proposed USAF manned 21st Century spaceplane. The smaller-scale X-40 tested some technologies prior to completion of the X-37A. The X-37B was the reusable space vehicle. Reusable satellite satellite built by Boeing for NASA, USAF, USA. Launched 2010 - 2015. |
 | X-40 American unmanned spaceplane. Boeing X-40A Experimental Space Maneuver Vehicle was built to test landing technologies for the later X-37. |
 | Cosmopolis 21 Russian manned spaceplane. Mock-up unveiled in 2002. On 15 March 2002 Space Adventures unveiled the mock-up of their C-21 (Cosmopolis 21) spaceplane at Zhukovskiy Air Base, Moscow. |
 | Mayflower American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital seaplane-spacecraft of Advent Launch Services of Houston, Texas. Reached the stage of engineering tests by 2003. |
 | Aurora X-Prize American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital spaceplane concept of Fundamental Technology Systems, Orlando, Florida. |
 | Cosmos Mariner American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital spaceplane concept of Lone Star Space Access, Houston, Texas. |
| Kitten American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital rocketplane concept of Kittyhawk of Oroville, Washington. |
 | Kliper Russian manned spaceplane. Study 2004. The Kliper manned spacecraft replacement for Soyuz was first announced at a Moscow news conference on 17 February 2004. |
 | Pioneer XP American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital spaceplane concept of Pioneer Rocketplane, Solvang, California. No backing forthcoming. |
 | SabreRocket American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital spaceplane concept of Panaero, Fairfax, Virginia. It envisioned conversion of a Sabre-40 business jet to rocket power. |
 | The Space Tourist American manned spaceplane. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital flying saucer concept of Discraft Corporation of Portland, Oregon. |
 | Shenlong Chinese spaceplane. Chinese spaceplane photographed under the belly of an H-6 medium bomber in 2007. Probably a subscale drop test model of a potential space combat system. |
 | Ares spaceplane French spaceplane. Study 1998. Small 7-meter long delta wing spaceplane, proposed by Aerospatiale, weighing 2,000 kg. Launched 2009.10.28, |
 | Tier Two American manned spaceplane. Development of the much larger SpaceShipTwo suborbital commercial manned spacecraft was announced in July 2005. |
 | Rocketplane XP American manned spaceplane. Study 2015. The Rocketplane XP Vehicle was a proposed suborbital manned spaceplane with accommodations for four crew. |
 | Dream Chaser American manned spaceplane. A six-passenger human space transport system announced in 2006 by SpaceDev, based on the ten-passenger HL-20 Personnel Launch System developed by NASA Langley in the 1980's. |
 | Xerus American manned spaceplane. Study 2016. Suborbital vehicle that XCOR planned to design and build on a commercial basis. Rocket powered, it would take off from a runway, and be capable of high altitude, high speed flight. |
 | Hyflex Japanese spaceplane. Unmanned testbed for Japanese HOPE spaceplane. |
 | Navaho The Navaho intercontinental cruise missile project was begun just after World War II, at a time when the US Army Air Force considered ballistic missiles to be technically impractical. The Navaho required a large liquid propellant rocket engine to get its Mach 3 ramjet up to ignition speed. This engine, derived with German assistance from that of the V-2, provided the basis for the rockets that would later take Americans into space.
It turned out that mastering the guidance and materials technology needed for a Mach 3 cruise air vehicle was actually more difficult than for a Mach 22 ballistic missile. In the end, the Redstone, Thor, Jupiter, and Atlas rockets were flying before their equivalent-range Navaho counterparts. However the Navaho program provided the engine technology that allowed the US to develop these ballistic missiles rapidly and catch up with the Russians. Navaho also developed chem-milling fuel tank fabrication techniques, inertial and stellar navigation, and a host of other technologies used in later space vehicles. It put North American Aviation, and its Rocketdyne Division, in a leading position that allowed them to capture the prime contracts for the X-15, Apollo, and Space Shuttle projects, thereby dominating American manned spaceflight for the next seventy years. |
 | Tsien Spaceplane 1949 American winged rocketplane. In 1949 Tsien Hsue-shen, the leading expert in high-speed aerodynamics working in America, applied the knowledge learned from German rocket developments to the design of a practical intercontinental rocket transport. |
 | Douglas Astro American winged orbital launch vehicle. The Douglas "Astro" was a VTHL TSTO system designed for launching space station crews and cargo by the 1968-70 period. A key requirement was that off-the-shelf technologies must be used, e.g. existing M-1, J-2 and RL-10 engines from the Saturn and Nova expendable launch vehicle programs. |
| Martin Astrorocket Martin winged orbital launch vehicle design of 1962. Early two-stage-to-orbit shuttle study, using storable propellants, Dynasoar-configuration delta wing orbiter and booster. |
 | NAA RTTOCV NASA awarded a "Reusable Ten Ton Orbital Carrier Vehicle" contract worth $342,000 to North American Aviation. The final concept from 1963 was quite similar to Lockheed's System III design. The launch capability was 11,340 kg (25,000 lb) and the standard payload would have consisted of a small lenticular 12-man orbital transfer vehicle spaceplane for space station logistics and crew transfer. |
 | Reusable Orbital Carrier American sled-launched winged orbital launch vehicle. The Reusable Orbital Carrier (ROC) was a 1964 Lockheed study of a sled-launched HTHL TSTO. The booster's rocket engines would burn liquid oxygen and jet fuel while small turbojets would be used for landing approach. The 2nd stage orbiter rocketplane would make an unpowered glide return and landing. LOX, LH2 rocket propulsion would be used on the second stage. The gross liftoff weight would be about 453t and the vehicle could deliver ten passengers+3000kg to a space station. Alternatively, an unmanned 11,340kg payload could be carried. |
| RAE Orbital Fighter British winged orbital launch vehicle. The Royal Aircraft Establishment Orbital Fighter proposal of the 1960's envisioned a two-stage single-crew vehicle. |
| Isinglass CIA air-launched, single-crew, rocket-powered high speed manned vehicle project of 1965-1968 that developed basic technologies used in later shuttle and reusable launch vehicle programs. |
 | Saenger I German winged orbital launch vehicle. Studied by MBB 1962-1969. Final version of the Saenger spaceplane, as conceived by Eugen Saenger during his lifetime. A rocket propelled sled would be used for horizontal launch of delta-winged, rocket-propelled first and second stages. An alternate version used a vertical-launch, horizontal landing, two-stage winged launch vehicle. |
 | Energia Version of the Energia using the core vehicle without the Buran spaceplane. |
 | System 49-M Russian winged orbital launch vehicle. The 49M was an application of the system 49 design concept, but with a larger carrier aircraft. The system would have a 770 metric ton gross takeoff mass. |
 | Bizan Russian air-launched orbital launch vehicle. Bizan was the 1982 Soviet air-launched spaceplane design iteration between the '49' and 'MAKS' concepts. Like the '49', it was air-launched from atop an An-124 transport. Unlike the '49', it was a single-stage-to-orbit tripropellant concept. |
| Copper Canyon American winged orbital launch vehicle. DARPA program of 1984 that proved the technologies and concept for the X-30 National Aerospace Plane concept. |
| TAV American winged single-crew rocketplane. USAF program of the 1980's that reached the test hardware stage and was leading to a single-stage-to-orbit, rocket-powered, winged manned vehicle. Halted in favour of the X-30 National Aerospace Plane, and then the similar X-33. |
 | Tu-2000 Russian winged orbital launch vehicle. This Soviet equivalent to the US X-30 single-stage-to-orbit scramjet aerospaceplane began development in1986. Three versions were planned: a Mach 6 test vehicle, under construction at cancellation of the program in 1992; a Mach 6 intercontinental bomber; and a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. |
 | H-2 HTOHL The H-2 horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing two-stage reusable space shuttle was proposed by Institute 601 of the Air Ministry in 1988. The first stage would used air breathing engines to accelerate the rocket-powered second stage to release velocity. This ambitious design would leapfrog China ahead of other spacefaring nations, but would be available no earlier than 2015. It was decided the concept was beyond Chinese technical capability, and it was not pursued further. |
| V-2 VTOHL Chinese winged orbital launch vehicle. The V-2 vertical takeoff / horizontal landing two-stage reusable space shuttle was proposed by Beijing Department 11 of the Air Ministry in 1988. The first stage would use liquid oxygen/kerosene engines, while the second would use liquid oxygen/hydrogen engines. Both stages would be winged, and first flight would be no earlier than 2015. |
| Spacecab The Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) Concorde-sized Spacecab would deliver a payload of six persons to low Earth orbit. It would serve as a prototype for the larger 50-person Spacebus. |
 | Spacebus British winged orbital launch vehicle. The Bristol Spaceplanes Spacebus was a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) Manned Spaceplane designed to take 50 passengers into space. |
 | X-30 American SSTO winged orbital launch vehicle. Air-breathing scramjet single stage to orbit. Second attempt after study of similar proposal in early 1960's. Cancelled due to cost, technical challenges. Superseded by X-33 rocket-powered SSTO. |
 | Black Horse American winged, single-crew, single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using aerial refueling and lower performance, non-cryogenic propellants. |
 | LII Spaceplane Russian air-launched winged orbital launch vehicle. In 1973 LII (the Gromov Experimental Flight Institute at Zhukovsky) designed several alternate spaceplane concepts for air-launch from the An-225 transport. These were similar to the various MAKS concepts. |
 | Tier One Burt Rutan's Tier One was the second manned reusable suborbital launch system (after the B-52/X-15). But it was developed privately at a small fraction of the cost, and won the X-Prize in 2004 as the first privately-developed reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. The design was greatly enlarged to produce SpaceShipTwo, the first commercial spaceplane. |
| Pathfinder Pioneer Rocketplane two-crew single-stage-to-orbit aerial-refueled spaceplane design of 2003. It elaborated on the Black Horse and Black Colt concepts of the 1990's. |
| Venturestar American SSTO winged orbital launch vehicle. Production reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using technology developed in X-33 test bed. |
Projects: NASA Lifting Body, STS. Stages: X-34, Chang Cheng stage 1.
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