Coming soon to a spaceport near you...

X33 comparison drawing

So, what is this?

On the right, we have the Space Shuttle that we know and love.
We would love it more, except it was designed and built in the
1970s and is insanely expensive to operate.

On the left is the fully-reusable X-33. It will make its first
test flight in July of 1999, but isn't big enough to fly all the way
into orbit. It's the prototype for the big one in the middle,
which will be the first commercial space shuttle. Private industry
will build and fly it, sometime early in the 21st century.

I've been waiting for this since I was six years old...