MACKER PRESENTS:
BAD-A** SPACESHIPS!
When most people hear the word spaceship they tend to think of the Starship Enterprise, the Death Star, the Battlestar Galactica, or the Millennium Falcon. But there were indeed other craft which plied the skies. Here are some of my favorites from TV and the movies...and also a few conjectural spacecraft which were never built (pity).For larger pictures, click on the thumbnails.
NOTE: The photos presented on this page are for promotional purposes ONLY. No copyright infringement is intended.
MOONBASE INTERCEPTORS
from UFO – ©Carlton InternationalIn the early 1970s, UFO came to the USA for a short run on CBS Television. SHADO's first line of defense were the Moonbase Interceptors, armed with a single nuclear missile. Sometimes didn't get their quarry and the UFO got to Earth to wreak havoc. The way the pilots jumped down the chute to get to their craft was really neat!
MARK IX HAWK
from Space:1999 - ©Carlton InternationalAlthough this ship was based on the Eagle shuttlecraft, the Hawk was instead designed for combat, and were seen in only one episode ("War Games"). Too bad Moonbase Alpha didn't have any of these around. Many fans thought Space:1999 was supposed to have been the sequel to UFO.
ORION III SPACEPLANE
from 2001: A Space Odyssey - ©MGMNotice the markings on this futuristic shuttle...the current incarnation of Pan American is but a shadow of the future envisioned on this spacecraft. What a pity.
Or is it? Within the next five years, Virgin Galactic will begin suborbital passenger flights for those willing to pay the hefty $200,000 ticket price, in spacecraft much similar to SpaceShipOne.
PROJECT ORION
Conjectural Spacecraft from NASACarl Sagan once thought of Project Orion as the best possible use of nuclear weapons ever devised. He was right. Using small nuclear explosive charges, ejected and detonated behind a pusher plate to drive the spacecraft onward, such a craft could literally have taken everything it needed to set up a colony on the Moon, or perhaps Mars. However, the project's peaceful missions were not sanctioned by the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty and it died a quiet death. But many books continue to be written on the subject.
BOEING X-20 DYNA-SOAR
Conjectural Spacecraft from the USAFWe could've had a space shuttle close to 40 years ago! However, its main purpose was to be military in nature, including reconnaisance, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and strategic bombing. At least one prototype was built and the craft was to be launched atop a Titan II/III booster. One of the original astronauts assigned by NASA to the Dyna-Soar program was Neil Armstrong, who left the program in 1962 and went on to Projects Gemini and Apollo.
FEDERAL DIRECTORATE STARFIGHTER
from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – ©Universal StudiosThis craft was originally proposed by Ralph McQuarrie as the Colonial Viper for Battlestar Galactica, but was eventually used in the 1979-1981 NBC series starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray.
Starfighters were strictly sub-light ships; stargates were used to travel from one planetary system to another. Before Captain Rogers was awakened from his 500-year nap, Earth pilots were slaved to the fighters' AI combat systems. Buck taught the pilots how to FLY them!
A pretty wicked design don't you think?
Thanks to Chris Scalf for rendering this illustration!
CORELLIAN BLOCKADE RUNNER "Tantive IV"
from Star Wars - ©20th Century FoxOriginally seen in Episode IV (the original Star Wars movie), this ship also made an appearance in Episode III, owned by Senator Bail Organa, who turned it over to his adoptive daughter Leia when she became of age. I like this vessel: not too big, not too small either, and it looks fast especially with 11 engines! So it's natural that the Empire would want this ship quite badly.
USS DEFIANT (NX-74205)
from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - ©Paramount PicturesIt took Starfleet to endure a real a**-whuppin' at Wolf 359 to realize that they had to start making WARSHIPS and not just starships. This is the result. The folks at Antares Fleet Yards did a mighty fine job of creating a ship which can kick the s**t out of a vessel 5 times her size! And best of all, it's only an escort!
"Assimilate THIS!"
MITCHELL-HYUNDYNE SA-23 STARFURY FIGHTER
from Babylon 5 - ©Warner Bros.At first glance someone might think "Oh, this is an X-Wing fighter!" NO WAY no how! This is designed for true three-dimensional space combat. Pilots stand in the jettisonable cockpit instead of sitting to better withstand the high-G maneuvers. Armed with four 20MW Plasma Projection Guns (PPG's) and external hardpoints for additional missile and/or sensor systems. Starfuries are not FTL-capable, they must use jumpgates to enter hyperspace or based aboard a starship which makes the trip.
Babylon 5 Fans know well the motto of the Starfury: "Ugly But Well Hung."
COLONIAL RAPTOR
From Battlestar Galactica - ©Universal StudiosOne of the baddest ships to come out of the modern Battlestar Galactica series (what I mentioned above only dealt with the original)...the Raptor is a short-range FTL-capable craft utilized for electronic warfare, scouting, and fire support, as well as troop transport and evac roles, among other functions. Raptor crews (1 pilot, 1 electronic countermeasures officer) do the dirty work and get little glory for it, and they are naturally antagonistic (in a friendly way) toward the Viper pilots.
