See photos and images of the U.S. military's XS-1 experimental space plane project in this Space.com gallery. The XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane program is led by DARPA.

The XS-1 (Experimental Spaceplane 1) is envisioned to heft payloads for less than $5 million a flight, each weighing between 3,000 and 5,000 lbs. (1,360 to 2,267 kilograms).

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It takes a lot more money and preparation to launch a rocket than to have a plane take off. That's why DARPA first initiated its Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. The agency has now ...

DARPA Space Budget Increase Includes $27M for Spaceplane. DARPA’s XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane Call for Proposals Eyes a 2018 Liftoff. DARPA To Start Reusable Launch Vehicle Program.

Darpa’s new competition to build and fly the XS-1 experimental spaceplane requires bidders to submit a plan to transition the reusable launch vehicle demonstrator to a commercial business model.

DARPA is now beginning to narrow in on a design for the XS-1, an experimental spaceplane that would allow quick, relatively inexpensive access to orbital altitudes. DARPA foresees a .

In the 1990s, NASA designed an experimental space plane meant to be a cost-effective alternative to expensive rockets. Called the X-33, it was based on a concept called SSTO — or “single stage ...

However, the final version of the storied plane would end in disaster when, on Nov. 9, 1951, while the X-1-3 and the B-50 carrying it were on the ground after a malfunction in the air, a dull thud ...

On January 19, 1946, Bell’s Chief Experimental Test Pilot, Jack Woolams, climbed from the bomb bay of a B-29 into the cockpit ...