History Main / SpacePlane

Please note that this list only include SSTO (Single Stage to Orbit) or sto ub-orbit to qualify.[[note]]Mid-air refuelling or drop tanks may or may not count.[[/note]] Nobody's built one, as of 2017. The most promising design so far is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skylon Reaction Engines Skylon,]] a British-designed European project, which recently cleared a key hurdle in engine development. Therefore, do no include the following:

* The X-37, which is launched by an Atlas V 501. It doesn't carry nearly enough fuel-- fully loaded, it masses just under 5 metric tons. Compare with the Space Shuttle, which masses ''2,000''.

* Mig-105 (Spiral Project): Only test vehicle exist. In any case, it is a two-stage-to-orbit, require a hypersonic air launcher the size of a XB-70 which is never built.

Though in some settings the definition "Must be able to take off, fly into orbit, and land again" may not entirely apply as the ship in question may be used in both atmosphere and space but it is unclear if they can fly from the ground to orbit. In settings with multiple habitable worlds this definition wouldn't work at all, as that distance changes. Space Planes may be launched by TheBattlestar, descend into the upper atmosphere and come back up (or not), but may not be able to land on a terrestrial runway ''at all''; many space fighters do lack wheels as a part of their landing gear. However, as previously stated, they may be able to use their thrusters in VTOL(Vertical Take Off and Landing) style.

* Possibly the most extreme example of all: In ''VideoGame/JudgmentRites'', Trelane's spaceship is a Fokker DR-1 triplane like the Red Baron's. It fights the [[CoolStarship Enterprise]] during one mission, and may very easily defeat it.

Though in some settings the definition "Must be able to take off, fly into orbit, and land again" may not entirely apply as the ship in question may be used in both atmosphere and space but it is unclear if they can fly from the ground to orbit. In settings with multiple habitable worlds this definition wouldn't work at all, as that distance changes. Space Planes may be launched by TheBattlestar, descend into the upper atmosphere and come back up (or not), but may not be able to land on a terrestrial runway ''at all''; many space fighters do lack wheels as a part of their landing gear. However, they may be able to use their thrusters in VTOL(Vertical Take Off and Landing) style.

Though in some settings the definition "Must be able to take off, fly into orbit, and land again" may not entirely apply as the ship in question may be used in both atmosphere and space but it is unclear if they can fly from the ground to orbit. In settings with multiple habitable worlds this definition wouldn't work at all, as that distance changes. Space Planes may be launched by TheBattlestar, descend into the upper atmosphere and come back up (or not), but may not be able to land on a terrestrial runway ''at all''; many space fighters do lack wheels as a part of their landing gear.

Please note that this excludes:

The spaceplane ''must'' be single-stage-to-orbit or sub-orbit to qualify.[[note]]Mid-air refuelling or drop tanks may or may not count.[[/note]] Nobody's built one, as of 2017. The most promising design so far is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skylon Reaction Engines Skylon,]] a British-designed European project, which recently cleared a key hurdle in engine development.

* ''{{Starcraft}}'': Every faction's air unit can be used in atmosphere or in space.

* ''SpaceAboveAndBeyond'''s Hammerhead fighters.
* In the ''StarTrek'' universe, shuttlecrafts are able to go from the CoolShip in orbit and land on the PlanetOfHats, and make the trip back, with no outside help when it comes to propulsion. We don't see it often, but they are even [[CasualInterstellarTravel warp-capable]]. The starships themselves tend to spend their entire operational lives in space, but at least the USS ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' can land and take off again without any outside help, though it takes a lot of preparation to do that with the city-in-space starships that really aren't meant for that. (Voyager is sleeker and smaller by that standard; trying it with any version of the ''Enterprise'' never comes up.)

* Battlecruiser3000AD's shuttles are capable of atmosphere to space and back.

* Several ships in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' universe - the Normandy [=SR1=] can fly in atmosphere, the Kodiak Drop Shuttle and the Viper gunship can both transit too, as can starfighters. Though the [[MinovskyPhysics mass effect fields]] they generate make this substantially easier than in real life by reducing their objective mass to almost nothing, allowing them to remain aloft on just a minimum of thrust and achieve orbit without expending enormous amounts of reaction mass.

* The Orbital Sciences Pegasus, thus far the only Air-Launch-To-Orbit (ALTO) launch system to reach commercial operation, is an expendable launch-vehicle launched from the underbelly of a modified DC-10, MD-11, or L-1011.

The spaceplane ''must'' be single-stage-to-orbit or sub-orbit to qualify.[[note]]Mid-air refuelling or drop tanks may or may not count.[[/note]] Nobody's built one, as of February 2013. The most promising design so far is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skylon Reaction Engines Skylon,]] a British-designed European project, which recently cleared a key hurdle in engine development.

* {{Animorphs}}: The Yeerks' Bug Fighters bring to mind a cockroach the size of a school bus, but can operate in both space and atmosphere (and even underwater). Visser Three's Blade Ship is even bigger but still manages atmospheric flight.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft) Skylon]] project, successor to HOTOL, presently in development. Mostly a project of Reaction Engines Limited (the British company building it), although it has received a small grant from the European Space Agency. Seen in art above. It's currently both the most advanced and the most realistic SSTO project, and it looks like something straight out of [[Franchise/StarWars Padme Amidala's garage]].

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Victory of the Daleks" has Dalek technology co-opted by Britain during WorldWarII to produce Space ''Spitfires''.
** The "Series/DoctorWho" episode "When a Good Man Goes to War" has the exact same Spitfires returning to help The Doctor take control of a space station called Demons Run.

In essence, a spaceship that can take off ''and'' land like an aircraft, as well as looking like an aircraft. Many ships have Vertical Take Off Or Landing capabilities; these babies, though, can use a regular runway too.

* The ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise is the king of this trope, featuring space planes that are also TransformingMecha -- but, perhaps surprisingly, they end up spending more time in plane form than mecha form. The earlier models of variable fighters generally required a lift from another craft to reach space but by the time of [[Anime/MacrossPlus Project Supernova]] they're capable of reaching orbit from planetary surfaces, even loaded down with an optional extra fold booster.
** [[Anime/MacrossFrontier Alto and Michel]] demonstrate the same again when escaping from Gallia IV

* One of the purest examples of this trope is the [[http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/orion_3_spaceplane.htm "Orion III"]] SpacePlane model, which appeared briefly in ''TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.

* ''Conquest of Space'' (1955). The Mars expedition lander is a giant winged spacecraft. For take-off however the wings are jettisoned and the rocket section tilted vertically for take-off. Problems arise on both landing (thanks to a crewman suffering from SpaceMadness grabbing the controls) and take-off (thanks to a quake knocking them off a vertical axis).

* The Black Stallions from the novel of DaleBrown. They can go to orbit, as the first usage of one in ''Strike Force'' shows, but sub-orbital is enough most of the time.

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[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the Imperial Navy's aircraft - as in, fighters and bombers designed primarily to operate in an atmosphere - are ''technically'' spaceplanes, as they can be launched off an Imperial Navy starship in orbit and can reach that starship from ground airbases once the fighting's over. In something of a subversion, the Imperial Navy's starfighters - like the Fury - are altogether much larger than standard aircraft and have a crew of around three, and while they can operate in an atmosphere it's not recommended because they're not designed for it.
** Though this is played straight where the more technologically advanced factions are concerned, as Eldar Vampires and Tau Mantas serve both as heavy ground attack aircraft in atmosphere and bombers in space.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skylon1_8387.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_%28spacecraft%29 It's like a plane...]] [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]]

* [[XWingSeries X-Wings and Y-Wings]] don't typically count; they have repulsorlift coils and use them. But ''Starfighters of Adumar'' has a pilot recount the case of another pilot whose craft had been shot up so the repulsorlifts had stopped working, and who had instead approached the cleared landing zone on the local moonbase, dropping his skids as he got close. Wes can tell the story.

Saves you the cost of a space launcher that you only use once. The obvious technical issue is that you need a store of liquid oxygen on board for the actual space bit of the journey--as you need something to burn the hydrogen with once the air gets too thin. Another issue is the ability to get to Mach 25, but that's not too hard.

In essence, a spaceship that can take off ''and'' land like an aircraft, as well as looking like an aircraft. Many ships have Vertical Take Off Or Landing capabilities, these babies though can use a regular runway too.

Saves you the cost of a space launcher that you only use once. The obvious technical issue is that you need a store of liquid oxygen on board for the actual space bit of the journey- as you need something to burn the hydrogen with once the air gets too thin. Another issue is the ability to get to Mach 25, but that's not too hard.

Though in some settings the definition "Must be able to takeoff, fly into orbit, and land again" may not entirely apply as the ship in question may be used in both atmosphere and space but it is unclear if they can fly from the ground to orbit. In settings with multiple habitable worlds this definition wouldn't work at all, as that distance changes. Space Planes may be launched by TheBattlestar, descend into the upper atmosphere and come back up (or not), but may not be able to land on a terrestrial runway ''at all''; many space fighters do lack wheels as a part of their landing gear.

* A prevalent part of the setting in ''{{Planetes}}'': single-stage orbit-capable shuttles appear to run between Earth and the ISPV-space colonies, similar to modern airliners, of which one of the secondary characters is a pilot. The destruction of one of these in the back-story is the main reason the main cast is out collecting debris.

Though in some settings the definition "Must be able to takeoff, fly into orbit, and land again" may not entirely apply as the ship in question may be used in both atmosphere and space but it is unclear if they can fly from the ground to orbit. In settings with multiple habitable worlds this definition wouldn't work at all, as that distance changes. The Space plane may be launched by a BattleStar, descend into the upper atmosphere and come back up (or not) but may not be able to land on a terrestrial runway ''at all,'' many space fighters do lack wheels as a part of their landing gear.

* Many small craft and even Starships in {{Traveller}} are capable of this. Not all, particularly the biggest which is why the largest starports tend to have orbital facilities.

* The Delta-glider Mk.4 (and many other cool spaceplanes) from the {{Freeware}} space simulator ''{{Orbiter}}''. It can do an Earth to Moon and Earth to Mars journey easily.

* The Arwings of the ''StarFox'' series have been shown to operate both within the atmosphere of a planet as well as the vacuum of space. In ''StarFoxAdventures'' Fox's Arwing had [=VTOL=] capabilities.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft) Skylon]] project, successor to HOTOL, presently in development. Mostly a project of Reaction Engines Limited (the British company building it), although it has received a small grant from the European Space Agency. Seen in art above. It's currently both the most advanced and the most realistic SSTO project, and it looks like something straight out of [[StarWars Padme Amidala's garage]].

* As mentioned in the "{{Literature}}" section, most ''StarWars'' space - capable vehicles smaller than about 200 meters are able to land on planets, but this is due to repulsorlift engines rather than conventional aircraft design. The shape of Naboo [[http://www.iaw.on.ca/~btaylor1/NabooN1fighter.html space fighters]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/H-type_Nubian_yacht space yachts]], however, appear very similar to jet aircraft.

* Present in ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'', a [[GameMod total conversion mod]] for ''[[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis Wars]]'',. Aerospace fighters use fusion rockets rather than conventional jets, and as such they work perfectly fine in the depths of space or above a hellish volcanic battlefield. And because a fusion engine doesn't need air intakes and moving air to work properly, the engine is impossible to stall. Aerospace fighters can spiral into [[ImprobablePilotingSkills absurd turns or go into wild rolls at a dozen rotations per second]] and come out fine so long as the pilot jams down on the throttle to regain lift from the wings.

* In ''MobileSuitGundam'', the FF-3/FF-S3 Sword Fish is a multi-use interceptor that functions in high altitude and low orbit. It's successor, the [[TransformingMecha Transformable]] HumongousMecha MSZ-006C4 Zeta plus C4 is a HumongousMecha version of it, and its SuperPrototype, the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam is basically the real SpacePlane version for both full range aerial and space combat, instead of only specializing in around the atmosphere.

* The ''{{Macross}}'' franchise is the king of this trope, featuring space planes that are also TransformingMecha -- but, perhaps surprisingly, they end up spending more time in plane form than mecha form. The earlier models of variable fighters generally required a lift from another craft to reach space but by the time of [[MacrossPlus Project Supernova]] they're capable of reaching orbit from planetary surfaces, even loaded down with an optional extra fold booster.
** [[MacrossFrontier Alto and Michel]] demonstrate the same again when escaping from Gallia IV