Hermes (spacecraft)

Hermes was a spaceplane concept developed by the European Space Agency in the 1980s as a crewed vehicle for crew transfer and cargo missions, particularly to space stations. Designed to operate like an airplane, Hermes would take off horizontally from a runway, reach orbit, and land similarly. It aimed to provide reusable, flexible access to space, reducing costs and increasing mission frequency. While the project was eventually canceled in the 1990s due to technical and budget challenges, Hermes remains an important step in the development of space transport concepts for crewed missions beyond Earth orbit.