Spaceplanes
Spaceplanes are aircraft that are able of reaching the edge of space where conventional aerodynamic controls lose their effectiveness. Must use aerodynamic surfaces at some stage of flight and be manned.
| Year | Country of origin | Name of Aircraft | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Germany | Silbervogel | sub orbital bomber project, mock up and wind tunnel models only. |
| 1959 | United States | X-15 | carried aloft under the wing of a B-52, conducted numerous supersonic and hypersonic flights |
| 1981 | United States | Space Shuttle | rocket assisted vertical take-off) lands unpowered |
| 1988 | Soviet Union | Buran Shuttle | normally manned but fully automated |
| 2004 | United States | Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne | performed first civilian-funded reusable spaceflight, carried aloft by White Knight to about 14 km |
| 2008 | United States | XCOR Lynx | suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing, rocket-powered spaceplane being developed by California-based XCOR for suborbital space flight market. |
| 2010 | United States | Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo | technology development prototype for Virgin Galactic commercial spaceplane in flight testing. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Rocket Aircraft