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Space Plane (view source)

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* In ''[[Starship Troopers]]'', [http://starshiptroopers.wikia.com/wiki/Dropship_%28films%29 dropships] pick up the title characters. It's not clear how they get from surface to space, but they do look and act like a [[Space Plane]].
* One of the purest examples of this trope is the "[http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/orion_3_spaceplane.htm Orion III]" [[Space Plane]] model, which appeared briefly in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.
* The ''Valkyrie'' shuttles from ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]''.
* Justified in ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' where Jumba's spaceship is actually based on the very passenger jet he, Pleakley, Nani, and Stitch were going to steal and use it to rescue Lilo from Gantu, which was changed due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
* Commercial airliners are capable of interstellar flight in ''[[The Fifth Element]]''.
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** We do actually see Mk VII Vipers being towed around an airbase in the new [[Battlestar Galactica]], in a flashback set just after the death of Zack Adama. That sequence, plus some close-ups in ''Galactica'''s hangar deck seem to indicate that the skids have some retractable(?) wheels which could be used for a conventional runway take-off and landing. The Raptor, however, would probably count as a single-stage VTOL spaceplane.
* Stargate's Goa'uld gliders, human X-302s, and Wraith darts can fly in space and in atmosphere
* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' had several Starbugs and Blue Midgets. Starbug is explicitly stated to be a ship-to-surface craft, implying that it ferried ore from the surface of the planet or asteroid it was mining to the ship itself. Neither of those fly like planes, however.
* The ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "Victory of the Daleks" has Dalek technology co-opted by Britain during [[World War II]] to produce Space ''Spitfires''.
** The "[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]" 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.
* One turns up, in of all places, ''[[CSI: Miami]]''.
 
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In [[Battle TechBattleTech]], there are Aerospace fighters which can act as normal fighter aircraft or fighter aircraft [[In Space]] at the discretion of the mothership, at least some of which are capable of surface - to - space flight, winged shuttlecraft, and Aerodyne Dropships, which are able to land as a [[Space Plane]].
* In ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]]'', the Imperial Navy's aircraft - by which I mean 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.
* 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.
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* Freelancer's space ships seem fully capable of launching and landing, though gameplay always uses docking rings, presumably for traffic control.
* [[Battlecruiser 3000 AD]]'s shuttles are capable of atmosphere to space and back.
* Starting with ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] III'', some fighters are explicitly said to be capable of flying and fighting in an atmosphere, while others aren't.
* [[Civilization]]: Call to Power has several units that can launch themselves into space. (Including an actual [[Space Plane]] unit, and a unit called a [[Space Fighter]]). The Civilization 2: Test of Time Sci-fi game also has several units that can travel into space. (The Shuttle is probably the most obvious example.)
* Several ships in the [[Mass Effect]] universe - the Normandy [[SR 1]] can fly in atmosphere, the Kodiak Drop Shuttle and the Viper gunship can both transit too, as can starfighters.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* An American educational series involving robots visiting other planets. Help with the show name would be appreciated.
* An inversion is the [[Swat Kats (Animation)|Turbokat]], which is a jet that can go into space if necessary.
* All E-frame from ''[[Exo Squad]]'' seem to have direct-atmosphere-to-space-and-back capability, but most of them fall under [[Humongous Mecha]], so only Kaz Takagi's CR-001 Exofighter qualifies for the "plane" part.
* The Disney show ''Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers'' had an episode, imaginatively called "Space Plane" which revolved around Chip and Dale getting trapped in a space plane, forcing Gadget to cook up a scheme involving a homemade spaceship with fire extinguisher thrusters, dynamite-powered rockets, all powered by pulling cables with nuts and washers attached to them.
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