What Are Spaceplanes?

A spaceplane combines elements of an airplane and a spacecraft into one high-flying vessel. Like a commercial jetliner, it’s designed to glide in the sky, and like a rocket ship, it can maneuver through outer space — including orbit entry — without a problem.

Despite their late-1950s debut, spaceplanes are still considered an emerging technology. To date, only six spaceplanes have successfully flown to outer space and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere with safe landing.

Spaceplanes have always been about expanding access to space. They’ve been used to conduct in-orbit experiments, ferry cargo and provide infrastructure support. More recently, as the private sector overtakes government-funded projects, spaceplanes have become a choice vehicle for space tourism.

 

What Are Spaceplanes?

Spaceplanes are aircraft that use their wings to create lift for atmospheric flight while relying on rocket propulsion to navigate in outer space. An energy source like fuel cells, solar panels or batteries is also needed to power a spaceplane during in-orbit flight. Although spaceplanes are often used to conduct experiments and deliver supplies, they can also be deployed to capture enemy satellites and test military technology.

A defining characteristic of spaceplanes is that they are built to withstand multiple trips, for “re-use,” and remain intact after landing. Typically, they launch vertically with the help of a rocket or mothership, and autonomously touch down for a conventional runway landing.

Because spaceplanes are capable of atmospheric flight and offer greater maneuverability than typical spacecraft, pilots have more options for choosing where to land safely and experience a smoother re-entry process. However, the shape and complexity of spaceplanes make them more costly and less viable than other spacecraft, so a spaceplane must be reusable over a longer period for it to be a worthy investment.

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10 Examples of Spaceplanes

Below is a list of space planes — retired, active and in progress — that have contributed to the development of this hybrid aircraft technology.

 

Dream Chaser

Built by Sierra Space, Dream Chaser is a reusable, lifting-body commercial space plane designed to carry up to seven people and more than six tons of cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Each model, about the size of a school bus, can fly up to 15 missions. In partnership with NASA, the space plane’s first mission is set for 2025, where an uncrewed, remotely controlled Dream Chaser will resupply the International Space Station with over 7,000 pounds of cargo — including food and research materials.

 

Boeing X-37

Boeing X-37 is a reusable, robotic spacecraft operated by the United States military. This uncrewed, lifting-body vehicle acts as a mini Space Shuttle, with the capability to remain in flight for more than 900 days and return with experiments for further analysis. Boeing X-37 took its maiden voyage in 2006 and remains active. Currently, it’s embarked on a seventh mission. Given its association with the U.S. Space Force, the nature of its activities remain confidential.

 

Space Rider

Space Rider is a multi-use, uncrewed robotic laboratory built by the European Space Agency (ESA) that’s set to launch in late 2025. At about the size of two minivans, the 4,900-kilogram vehicle can carry a payload of 800 kilograms in low orbit for two months at a time. With 600 watts of power, thermal control, data-handling and telemetry capability, Space Rider allows customers to conduct experiments in microgravity that support research across pharmaceutics, biomedicine, biology and physical science.

 

North American X-15

The North American X-15 is a hypersonic, rocket-powered aircraft that was the first to breach the edge of space, making it the original “spaceplane.” Initially launched in 1959, the winged vehicle was a part of the X-plane series — a shared project between NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy — that carried out in-flight experiments from 1959 to 1968. X-15 planes were the first to fly mach 4, 5 and 6. It still holds the record for fastest manned aircraft with a top speed at mach 6.7, or 4,520 miles per hour.

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Space Shuttle

NASA’s Space Shuttle was the world’s first reusable spacecraft that was used to carry satellites — including the Hubble Space Telescope — to and from orbit. The crewed, 184-foot vehicle also assisted in building the International Space Station as well as deploying robotic probes Galileo and Magellan to explore Jupiter and Venus on separate missions. The Space Shuttle was composed of four major components: the orbiter that housed the crew, the engine, a large external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters used for liftoff.

 

Shenlong

China’s experimental robotic spaceplane Shenlong, coined the “Divine Dragon,” has completed three missions total, including its maiden voyage in 2020 and a 276-day flight. The aircraft, which is operated by the China National Space Administration, is often described as “mysterious” as little is known about the spaceplane’s purpose or operational capacity, similar to U.S. military vehicles like the X-37B spaceplane. On its latest mission in December 2023, Shenlong deployed six unidentified objects into Earth’s orbit that emit signals.

 

SpaceShipOne

Although SpaceShipOne retired within two years of its first launch in 2003, the experimental vehicle goes down in history as the first privately developed spaceplane capable of spaceflight. Developed by California-based aerospace company Scaled Composites, this crewed aircraft air-launched from its mothership, named White Knight, and was powered by a hybrid rocket motor that helped it reach speeds up to 2,000 miles per hour.

 

VSS Unity

VSS Unity was a suborbital, commercial spaceplane developed for space tourism. The crewed, rocket-powered aircraft is the second of Virgin Galactic’s fleet, and can seat up to four passengers and two pilots. Making its inaugural flight in 2018, VSS Unity completed its last flight in June of 2024 to make way for a new series of “Delta-class” spaceplanes to launch in 2026. In its travels, VSS Unity only breached 80 kilometers from sea level, which is about 20 kilometers short of the Kármán Line, where space “starts.”

 

Ascender

Ascender is a small, two-seater sub-orbital spaceplane with a minimalist design for the purpose of space tourism. Developed by British aerospace company Bristol Spaceplanes, the privately funded aircraft can climb up to 100 kilometers and reach a maximum mach 3 speed. While Ascender has achieved EUREKA status as a suggested project by the ESA, it remains in the conceptual stage.

 

Radian One

Developed by a Washington-based aerospace startup, Radian One is a conceptual, five-seater spaceplane capable of reaching outer space without any extra help from external hardware, like rockets, as well as horizontal take-off and landing. The company claims that its aircraft, which are about the size of a shipping container, will be able to carry out up to 100 missions each, with its first flight launching before 2030.

 

History of Spaceplanes

In the 1930s, German scientist Eugene Sänger began exploring the concept of spaceplanes and published his work in The Technology of Rocket Flight. His studies on hypersonic flight would become the foundation for the X-15 spaceplane, which used rocket propulsion to travel at high speeds and altitudes and was first used by NASA and the U.S. Air Force in 1959.

The development of spaceplanes accelerated in the 1980s as a result of the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In 1981, NASA’s Space Shuttle made its initial launch and would complete 135 missions until 2011. In 1988, the Soviet Union constructed its own spaceplane called the Buran, although it ventured into space only once due to lack of funding.

Beginning as NASA’s idea in 1999 before being used by the U.S. Air Force, the Boeing X-37 took up the spaceplane mantle when it conducted its first mission in 2010. A new generation of spaceplanes is also on the horizon, but questions around complexity and cost remain as countries like the U.S. and China continue to test the boundaries of space exploration.

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