| Summary: | A spaceplane is an aircraft designed to fly up to extreme altitudes into space and back to the Earth's surface. It combines some of the features of an aircraft and some of a spacecraft. Typically, it takes the form of a spacecraft equipped with wings, although lifting bodies have been designed. The propulsion to reach space may be purely rocket based or may use the assistance of air-breathing engines. To date, only pure rocket spaceplanes have succeeded in reaching space, although several have been carried up to an altitude of several tens of thousands of feet by conventional aircraft before release.
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