Hermes (spacecraft)

Hermes was a proposed spaceplane designed by the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) in 1975, and later by the European Space Agency. It was superficially similar to the US X-20. France proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA. Hermes was to have been part of a manned space flight program. It would have been launched using an Ariane 5. The project was approved in November 1987, with an initial pre-development phase from 1988 to 1990, with a green light for full-rate development depending on the outcome of the phase. The project suffered numerous delays and funding issues. It was canceled in 1992 since neither cost nor performance goals could be achieved. No Hermes shuttles were ever built.

Configuration

Hermes was to be launched on top of an Ariane 5 launcher and would consist of two parts: one part, a cone-shaped Resource Module which attached to the rear of the vehicle would be left behind before re-entry. Only the space plane itself would re-enter Earth's atmosphere and land.