Surface To Orbit Shuttle

Surface To Orbit Shuttles (STOs or STOSs) are reusable launch vehicles capable of delivering people and equipment into orbit to rendezvous with space stations or other spacecraft. STOs can either be Single Stage (SSTOs) which only need to be refueled and reset to launch again, or Dual Stage (DSTOs) which have a detachable booster stage to lose excess mass. DSTOs with "dumb" boosters can only be used at coastal spaceports, but self-guiding boosters allows certain DSTOs to safely take off from inland spaceports while the spent boosters safely glide to a landing at designated retrieval landing strips or pads.
Almost all STOs are also capable of making the reverse trip to Earth from Orbit. STOs come in a wide variety of sizes and configurations, and can be seen in both civil and military fleets.