Many know about the Ariane Rockets, but not as many know that the first space shuttle was not made by the US, infact the Hermes was the first ever spaceplane but due to people's lack of acknowledgement, it was not well known and many didnt even see its first launch. In fact, the Space shuttle is the first spaceplane that most of the world learns about and because of that people forgot about hermes. It turns out the space shuttle was actually inspired by the Hermes design. The Hermes was lifted from the launchpad on the Ariane 5, and then it took over once the lifter had ran out of fuel.