Don Colton wrote upthread:
SpaceX wants to do it; see http://www.spacex.com/. They are building the Falcon 9 human rated launch vehicle for trips to the space station and eventually interplanetary satellite missions. I think we will never see substantial space exploration unless it becomes commercially viable.
In a spaceplane prototype program transferred from NASA to DARPA, the X-37B, a robotic, unmanned, space plane, took the LRO's launch spot, for this December. "The X-37B is about one-quarter the length and width of a space shuttle orbiter. The reusable space plane is being manufactured by Boeing's Phantom Works division and will weigh about 11,000 pounds at launch, according to the Air Force." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 The X-37B was dead stick drop flight tested from the White Knight in 2006. Public pictures from the 2006 test are probably the best showing what it looks like - http://spaceports.blogspot.com/2006/04/x-37-flys-from-mojave-spaceport.html The X-37B is launched in a sealed faring on top of an Altas V booster. It is unclear to me whether it will be launch from Kennedy or Vandenberg. - Kurt