What is your favourite sci-fi/irl spacecraft, and why?

[InterCity]

Don't hate me, but mine is the Protoss Void Ray, closely followed by Mothership and the Carrier from SC2.

They're beautiful, and as a Diamond SC2 protoss player I know they're fun. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing your 30 void rays melt through enemy base

[Xorth Tanovar]

lol ... "Dark Star", and Bomb #20.

Gotta love that one.

But my personal favorite is the classic Omega-class destroyer of B5; nothing says "Brute Force" better than that.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Xorth Tanovar

[Accelerando]

Lighthuggers, and Bussard Ramscoop-type ships in general.

[Dispatcher]

Wow! Lots of sloooow loading images. But hey, a fun thread. I'll start with United Planets Cruiser C57D. If you think you've seen this; surprise! Oh yeah, before Skywalker's blaster, before Sulu's viewscope, before Uhura's earpiece, before the Moog, before Naked Gun, there was ... you get it. Meanwhile this ship even arranges its own eclipses:

Und of course, score one for science; das ISV Venture Star:

Rocket sleds (precursors to rail guns), string, ... more string. Fireball XL5:

The UESC Marathon is Deimos, hollowed out:

It was used to reach and establish a human colony at Tau Ceti in Bungie's game "Marathon".

Edited January 16, 2015 by Dispatcher

[Bill Phil]

Spaceball 1.

Nothing beats BIG.

A close runner up would be Rama. Interstellar O'Neill cylinders for the win!

[CommanderSonic]

My favorite ship is the USS Enterprise refit this ship went opt perfectly and has defeated Khaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!

[vger]

USCM Dropship.

Just what fun this would be to have. A hybrid spacecraft/helicopter. And armored enough that re-entry is a roller coaster ride instead of an all-out panic attack.

And the Valley Forge.

Scientifically thrown-out since we know now that we'd just store the DNA of all life on Earth and toss it into a tiny container, instead of going to the bother of having to keep an eco-system running. But such a beautiful romanticized concept.

Edited September 30, 2015 by vger

[Ethanadams]

The discovery from a space odyssey because of how realistic it is

[A35K]

The Super Star Destroyer from Star Wars. So many turrets...

[Just Jim]

I had to think about this a while... there are so many to choose from. But in terms of how much this one impacted me as a kid, I have to go with the Eagle Lander, from the classic Space: 1999. I was 13 when this show was on the air, and this was the first ship that I thought truly looked like it belonged on the Moon. It screams function over beauty, and I still think it's one of the coolest, and most realistic, sci-fi ships ever created.

[sumghai]

Intrepid-class starship from the Star Trek franchise. Sleek yet functional design, adequate for exploration, diplomacy and peacekeeping - I like to think of it as "the little ship that could":

[Whirligig Girl]

The classic, though extremely scientifically inaccurate, starship Enterprise from the original series of Star Trek.

And then the Pilgrim Observer that Nyrath mentioned. I have the model kit assembled. Might take a picture and show it off.

[GoSlash27]

The HALO Halcyon class light cruiser and Starship Troopers USS Rodger Young.

Both have the feel of current naval technology and doctrine in space. They have an air of plausibility about them...

Best,

-Slashy

[ChrisSpace]

My top picks (sci-fi):

Hermes and other spacecraft fromThe Martian

Endurance and other spacecraft from Interstellar

Pegasus and other spacecraft from space odyssey: voyage to the planets

Constellation Aquila and 315p from Star Citizen

Discovery II http://naca.larc.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20050160960

My top picks (irl):

ISS

Dragon v2

Space shuttle

[Spacetraindriver]

Does a space train count as a ship? It goes into space! AND HAS LASERS! AND fighters! AND Off Track mode!

If it does, then this my fav is Big One from Galaxy Railways.

Img not working.

It is my avatar!

[r4pt0r]

I would say the Deucalion Space Battleship from the Anime Aldnoah Zero. I really loved that show.

Heres a clip of it emerging from its secret island drydock, spoilers be warned.

[Red Iron Crown]

USCM Dropship.

*cough*

Tough to pick just one, I guess I'll go with this:

[Randox]

I think I'd have to go with the Warlock class from Babylon 5:

Aside from, if you ask me, looking pretty cool, this ship is an absolute power house in the Babylon universe, particularly the twin cannons mounted in the nose. This ship represents a gigantic technical jump forward in capability, and is the first Earth Alliance ship that can truly hold her own, and even dominate, in battle against older, more advanced alien species like the Minbari.

As a very near runner up, Star Trek's Akira class:

I'm preferential to this style of federation ship that lacks the secondary hull seen in most designs, yet still retaining the set off warp nacelles and torpedo launcher. It is, visually, basically a modernized Miranda class (Wrath of Khan), and canonically one of the new battle oriented classes, along with the Defiant, Sovereign, and I believe Steamrunner (also a cool looking ship).

[rodion_herrera]

SCI FI...

The kid in me will say this:

But in recent times, I've grown to love the Pegasus from BBC's Journey to the Planets, which is quite similar to the Hermes from "The Martian".

REAL:

It would have to be a toss-up between the LM and the Gemini Capsule.

[Kinglet]

My favorite sci-if ship is the Hauler from Elite: Dangerous.

Small, agile, fast, cozy, and has lots of inside space for trade and diplomacy.

My favorite real life spacecraft is the x-37b. Mysterious, has wings and you could probably fit a person into there somehow.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Kinglet

[TonyC]

The Galactica for the same reasons than OP :

Followed by the DSC-304 ships in the Stargate franchise because of its militaristic and functional appearance, also, metallic :

And, for 3rd, the USS Vengeance from Star Trek into Darkness because it looks blocky on the sides and very functional, also, metallic :

[Drunkrobot]

Thinking quickly, my favorite fictional surface-to-orbit spacecraft is the Orion II spaceplane from Space Odyessy.

Favorite fictional orbit-to-orbit spacecraft is split between the somewhat-realistic Red Dwarf...

...and the thoroughly impractical Imperial I-class Star Destroyer.

As for real spacecraft, well, you have to go for Korolev's baby.

[pTrevTrevs]

Real Life: Hmm, hard to choose, Dragon V1 is cool, but so is Soyuz, and Salyut, and Apollo... Hang on, I need a few weeks to think of this...

Sci-Fi: USS Enterprise-D and Slave I are both cool

[NuclearNut]

Concepts? Well orion of course, imagine shooting through the atmosphere on a wave of nuclear detonations, imagine seeing that, the flashes of light slowly fading behind the craft leaving orange clouds in it's path, it would be absolutely beautiful to see, absolutely the most impressive sight ever seen.

Now, for rockets that actually flew, the prize would have to go to the Soyuz or Proton M, both are wonderful spacecraft, and both are among the best in the world currently (until SpaceX upstages them)

[Tianar]

For fictional spacecraft, I would definitely agree on Constellation Aquila from Star Citizen. Its one of the ships I'm most looking forward to acquiring in that game.

Favorite movie spacecraft, I like ones that can transform, or have cool functions on them. I'm going to pick "Spaceballs 1".

As for real life craft, I'd say the US space shuttle ranks highly on my list as well as the Apollo spacecraft. I think its sad we haven't had

a manned spacecraft out of low Earth orbit in decades. I hope we see Duna, err Mars missions in my lifetime.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Tianar