thumb|300px|Aerospaceplane 1 (artist conception). Lab research showed that hydrogen-fueled airbreathers could be used for space launch.
The US Air Force's Aerospaceplane was a basic research project led by Weldon Worth at the Wright-Patterson AFB concerning the design of future recoverable spaceplanes. The effort was started in 1957 as a result of the USAF official SR-89774 ("SR" stands for "study requirement") for a reusable spaceplane. By 1959, this work was more known as the Recoverable Orbital Launch System (ROLS).