Editing Reusable launch vehicle (section)

===Types===
====Parachutes and airbags====
{{Main|Splashdown|Airbag#Spacecraft airbag landing systems|Parachute}}
{{See also|Water landing}}
These are landing systems that employ parachutes and bolstered hard landings, like in a [[splashdown]] at sea or a touchdown at land. The latter may require an engine burn just before landing as parachutes alone cannot slow the craft down enough to prevent injury to astronauts. This can be seen in the Soyuz capsule.

Though such systems have been in use since the beginning of [[astronautics]] to recover space vehicles, only later have the vehicles been reused.

E.g.:
*[[Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters]]
*[[SpaceX Dragon|SpaceX Dragon capsule]]

====Horizontal (winged)====
{{Main|Spaceplane}}
Single or main stages, as well as [[fly-back booster]]s can employ a horizontal landing system. These vehicles land on earth much like a plane does, but they usually do not use propellant during landing.

Examples are:
*[[Space Shuttle orbiter]] - as part of the main stage
*[[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran spaceplane]] - acted as an orbital insertion stage, however [[Polyus (spacecraft)|Polyus]] could also be used as a second stage for the [[Energia (rocket)|Energia]] launch vehicle.
*[[Venturestar]] - a project of [[NASA]]
*[[Studied Space Shuttle designs#Liquid Fly-back Booster|Space Shuttle's studied fly-back booster]]
*[[Energia (rocket)|Energia II ("Uragan")]] - an alternative [[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran]] launch system concept
*[[OK-GLI]] - another [[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran]] spacecraft version
*[[Liquid Fly-back Booster]] - a German concept
*[[Baikal (rocket booster)|Baikal]] - a former Russian project
*[[Reusable Booster System]] - a U.S. research project 
*[[SpaceShipTwo]] - a [[spaceplane]] for [[space tourism]] made by [[Virgin Galactic]] 
*[[SpaceShipThree]] - a [[spaceplane]] under development for [[space tourism]] made by [[Virgin Galactic]] 
*Dawn Mk-II Aurora - a [[spaceplane]] under development by [[Dawn Aerospace]] 
*[[XS-1 (spacecraft)|XS-1]] - another U.S. research project
*[[RLV-TD]] - an ongoing Indian project
*[[Reaction Engines]] [[Skylon (spacecraft)|Skylon]] [[SSTO]]
A variant is an in-air-capture tow back system, advocated by a company called EMBENTION with its FALCon project.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.embention.com/project/falcon-project/ |access-date=29 October 2020 |title=FALCon |website=embention.com |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027121718/https://www.embention.com/project/falcon-project/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Vehicles that land horizontally on a runway require wings and undercarriage. These typically consume about 9-12% of the landing vehicle mass,{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} which either reduces the payload or increases the size of the vehicle. Concepts such as [[lifting bodies]] offer some reduction in wing mass,{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} as does the [[delta wing]] shape of the [[Space Shuttle]].

====Vertical (retrograde)====
{{Main|VTVL|Retrorocket|Thrust reversal}}
Systems like the [[McDonnell Douglas DC-X|McDonnell Douglas DC-X (Delta Clipper)]] and those by [[SpaceX]] are examples of a retrograde system.
The boosters of [[Falcon 9]] and [[Falcon Heavy]] land using one of their nine engines. The [[Falcon 9]] rocket is the first orbital rocket to vertically land its first stage on the ground. The first stage of [[SpaceX Starship|Starship]] is planned to land vertically, while the second is to be caught by arms after performing most of the typical steps of a retrograde landing. [[Blue Origin]]'s [[New Shepard]] suborbital rocket also lands vertically back at the launch site.

Retrograde landing typically requires about 10% of the total first stage propellant, reducing the payload that can be carried due to the [[rocket equation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/679114269485436928|title=SpaceX on Twitter|work=Twitter|access-date=January 7, 2016|archive-date=September 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920110637/https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/679114269485436928|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Landing using aerostatic force====
There is also the concept of a launch vehicle with an inflatable, reusable first stage. The shape of this structure will be supported by excess internal pressure (using light gases). It is assumed that the bulk density of the first stage (without propellant) is less than the bulk density of air. Upon returning from flight, such a first stage remains floating in the air (without touching the surface of the Earth). This will ensure that the first stage is retained for reuse. Increasing the size of the first stage increases aerodynamic losses. This results in a slight decrease in payload. This reduction in payload is compensated for by the reuse of the first stage.<ref>{{Citation |url = https://engrxiv.org/xbf8z/ |first1 = Valentyn |last1 = Pidvysotskyi |title = The Concept of an Inflatable Reusable Launch Vehicle |date = July 2021 |doi = 10.31224/osf.io/xbf8z |s2cid = 243032818 |access-date = 2021-08-18 |archive-date = 2021-08-18 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210818223109/https://engrxiv.org/xbf8z/ |url-status = live }}</ref>