A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to conventional spacecraft, while sub-orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to fixed-wing aircraft. All spaceplanes as of 2024 have been rocket-powered for takeoff and climb, but have then landed as unpowered gliders.
Four examples of spaceplanes have successfully launched to orbit, reentered Earth's atmosphere, and landed: the U.S. Space Shuttle, the Russian Buran, the U.S. X-37, and the Chinese Shenlong. Another, Dream Chaser, is under development in the U.S. As of 2024, all past and current orbital spaceplanes launch vertically; some are carried as a payload in a conventional fairing, while the Space Shuttle used its own engines with the assistance of boosters and an external tank. Orbital spaceflight takes place at high velocities, with orbital kinetic energies typically greater than suborbital trajectories. This kinetic energy is shed as heat during re-entry. Many more spaceplanes have been proposed.
At least two suborbital rocket-powered aircraft have been launched horizontally into sub-orbital spaceflight from an airborne carrier aircraft before rocketing beyond the Kármán line: the X-15 and SpaceShipOne.
Principles of operation
Spaceplanes must operate in space, like traditional spacecraft, but also must be capable of atmospheric flight, like an aircraft.
Spaceplanes do not necessarily have to fly by their own propulsion, but instead often glide with their inertia while using aerodynamic surfaces to maneuver in the atmosphere during descent and landing. The U.S. Space Shuttle for instance, could not fly under its own propulsion but used its momentum after de-orbit to glide to the runway destination.
These requirements drive up the complexity, risk, dry mass, and cost of spaceplane designs. The following sections will draw heavily on the US Space Shuttle as the biggest, most complex, most expensive, most flown, and only crewed orbital spaceplane, but other designs have been successfully flown.
Launch to space The flight trajectory required to reach orbit results in significant aerodynamic loads, vibrations, and accelerations, all of which have to be withstood by the vehicle structure.
If the launch vehicle suffers a catastrophic malfunction, a conventional capsule spacecraft is propelled to safety by a launch escape system. The Space Shuttle was far too big and heavy for this approach to be viable, resulting in a number of abort modes that may or may not have been survivable. The Challenger disaster demonstrated a lack of survivability on ascent.
Space environment Once on-orbit, a spaceplane must be supplied with power by solar panels and batteries or fuel cells, maneuvered in space, kept in thermal equilibrium, oriented, and communicated with. On-orbit thermal and radiological environments impose additional stresses. This is in addition to accomplishing the task the spaceplane was launched to complete, such as satellite deployment or science experiments.
The Space Shuttle used dedicated engines to accomplish orbital maneuvers. These engines used toxic hypergolic propellants that required special handling precautions. Various gases, including helium for pressurization and nitrogen for life support, were stored under high pressure in composite overwrapped pressure vessels.
Atmospheric reentry
Orbital spacecraft reentering the Earth's atmosphere must shed significant velocity, resulting in extreme heating. For example, the Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) protects the orbiter's interior structure from surface temperatures that reach as high as , well above the melting point of steel. Suborbital spaceplanes fly lower energy trajectories that do not put as much stress on the spacecraft thermal protection system.
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was the direct result of a TPS failure.
Aerodynamic flight and horizontal landing Aerodynamic control surfaces must be actuated. Landing gear must be included at the cost of additional mass.
Air-breathing orbital spaceplane concept An air-breathing orbital spaceplane would have to fly what is known as a 'depressed trajectory,' which places the vehicle in the high-altitude hypersonic flight regime of the atmosphere for an extended period of time. This environment induces high dynamic pressure, high temperature, and high heat flow loads particularly upon the leading edge surfaces of the spaceplane, requiring exterior surfaces to be constructed from advanced materials and/or use active cooling. Skylon was a proposed spaceplane that would have used air-breathing engines.
Flown orbital spaceplanes
Space Shuttle
Buran
X-37
Reusable experimental spacecraft
Flown suborbital rocket planes
United States Two piloted suborbital rocket-powered aircraft have reached space: the North American X-15 and SpaceShipOne; a third, SpaceShipTwo, has crossed the US-defined boundary of space but has not reached the higher internationally recognised boundary. None of these crafts were capable of entering orbit, and all were first lifted to high altitude by a carrier aircraft.
On 7 December 2009, Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo, along with its atmospheric mothership "Eve". On 13 December 2018, SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity successfully crossed the US-defined boundary of space (although it has not reached space using the internationally recognised definition of this boundary, which lies at a higher altitude than the US boundary). SpaceShipThree is the new spacecraft of Virgin Galactic, launched on 30 March 2021. It is also known as VSS Imagine. On 11 July 2021 VSS Unity completed its first fully crewed mission including Sir Richard Branson.
Soviet Union The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105 was an atmospheric prototype of an intended orbital spaceplane, with the suborbital BOR-4 subscale heat shield test vehicle successfully reentering the atmosphere before program cancellation.
Japan HYFLEX was a miniaturized suborbital demonstrator launched in 1996, flying to 110 km altitude, achieving hypersonic flight, and successfully reentering the atmosphere.
Europe The European Space Agency (ESA) test project Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) has demonstrated lifting body reentry technologies during a 100-minute suborbital flight in 2015.
Multinational
The Dawn Mk-II Aurora is a suborbital spaceplane being developed by Dawn Aerospace to demonstrate multiple suborbital flights per day. Dawn is based in the Netherlands and New Zealand, and is working closely with the American CAA. On 9 December 2020, the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, working alongside the New Zealand Space Agency, issued a license allowing the vehicle to fly from a conventional airport. Early flight testing began with surrogate jet engines, and in July 2021 the company completed a series of five test flights assessing the airframe, avionics and rapid-turnaround operations. Dawn Aerospace
Aurora has since undergone extensive flight testing, including dozens of jet-engine flights and subsequent certification for rocket-powered and supersonic flight. In November 2024, the Mk-II Aurora became the first aircraft designed and manufactured in New Zealand to break the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.12 and setting a record for the fastest climb to 20 km altitude.
In 2025, Dawn Aerospace began flying commercial and research payloads on Aurora, including space domain awareness sensors and university research instruments, demonstrating the vehicle’s potential for reusable suborbital services.
The company has also started taking orders for the Aurora, with first deliveries expected in 2027, and signed partnerships to base an Aurora spaceplane at the Oklahoma Air & Space Port in the United States.
Spaceplanes in development
China
The Chinese reusable experimental spacecraft is a clandestine spaceplane that has launched four times between 2020 and 2026, via a Long March 2F.
Shenlong () is a Chinese robotic spaceplane that may be similar to the Boeing X-37. Only a few images have been released since late 2007.
Haolong is a reusable uncrewed spaceplane with a 1.8 ton cargo capacity in development by the Chengdu Aircraft Research and Design Institute, developer of the Chengdu J-10 and Chengdu J-20 fighter aircraft, for resupplying the Tiangong space station. It will be 10 meters long and 8 meters wide and will use folding wings.
Europe
The experience from the IXV project is being used in the PRIDE programme to develop the uncrewed reusable spaceplane Space Rider.
The German Space Agency (DLR) is developing the Reusable Flight Experiment (ReFEx) as a demonstrator for a winged reusable rocket first stage. It will be carried by a sounding rocket to apogee of approximately 130 km. Its first flight is expected in 2026.
The German company POLARIS Spaceplanes, in cooperation with DLR, is developing a multipurpose suborbital spaceplane Aurora that can be used for launching payloads into orbit when combined with an expendable upper stage.
Dassault Aviation and OHB are developing an orbital spaceplane called VORTEX (Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’EXploration) for both civilian and military orbital missions. The company first presented this project at the 2025 Paris Air Show. ESA expressed an interest to cooperate on a scaled down suborbital technology demonstrator version of VORTEX.
French company AndroMach, founded in 2023, is developing small suborbital (ENVOL) and orbital (ÉTOILE) spaceplanes with financial support by CNES.
INVICTUS will be a hypersonic flight test vehicle, enabling technologies for future reusable spaceplanes.
India , the Indian Space Research Organisation is developing a launch system named the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV). It is India's first step towards realizing a two-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system. A space plane serves as the second stage. The plane is expected to have air-breathing scramjet engines as well as rocket engines. Tests with miniature spaceplanes and a working scramjet have been conducted by ISRO in 2016. In April 2023, India successfully conducted an autonomous landing mission of a scaled-down prototype of the spaceplane. The RLV prototype was dropped from a Chinook helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 km and was made to autonomously glide down to a purpose-built runway at the Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range, Karnataka.
Japan As of 2018, Japan is developing the Winged Reusable Sounding rocket (WIRES), which if successful, may be used as a recoverable first-stage or as a crewed sub-orbital spaceplane.
United States
Unflown spaceplane concepts
Various types of spaceplanes have been suggested since the early twentieth century. Notable early designs include a spaceplane equipped with wings made of combustible alloys that it would burn during its ascent, and the Silbervogel bomber concept. World War II Germany and the postwar US considered winged versions of the V-2 rocket, and in the 1950s and '60s winged rocket designs inspired science fiction artists, filmmakers, and the general public.
United States The U.S. Air Force invested some effort in a paper study of a variety of spaceplane projects under their Aerospaceplane efforts of the late 1950s, but later reduced the scope of the project. The result, the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar, was to have been the first orbital spaceplane, but was canceled in the early 1960s in lieu of NASA's Project Gemini and the U.S. Air Force's crewed spaceflight program.