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Since at least in the early 20th century, single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles have existed in science fiction. In the 1970s, the first reusable launch vehicle, the Space Shuttle, was developed. However, in the 1990s, due to the program's failure to meet expectations, reusable launch vehicle concepts were reduced to prototype testing.
The Lockheed Martin X-33 was a proposed uncrewed, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane that was developed for a period in the 1990s. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially operated reusable launch vehicle.
As of 2023, SpaceX is developing the Starship system to be a fully-reusable two-stage launch vehicle, intended to replace all of its other launch vehicles and spacecraft for satellite delivery and human transport—Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon—and eventually support flights to the Moon and Mars. It could theoretically be used for point ...
Starship is intended to be both a fully reusable spacecraft and launch vehicle. [ c ] Starship's first integrated launch with its booster was in 2023, and it reached space the same year. In 2024, Starship successfully reentered the atmosphere and completed propulsive splashdowns in the Indian Ocean, although as of December 2024 [update] it has ...
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable, human-rated, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle [a] designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX.The first Falcon 9 launch was on 4 June 2010, and the first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 8 October 2012. [14]
2012: SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket was a VTVL first-stage booster test vehicle developed to validate low-altitude, low-velocity engineering aspects of its large-vehicle reusable rocket technology. [20] The test vehicle made eight successful test [21] flights in 2012–2013. Grasshopper v1.0 made its eighth, and final, test flight on October 7 ...
The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle , then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane .
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile -shaped multistage rocket , but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle .