The Apollo Lunar Lander. The only real space ship we ever built. (I guess we built another one for the next trip now, though, so I'll go with "ever flown")
People can say it's ugly all they want, but, as an engineer, it's exquisitely designed for its purpose. That's true beauty to me.
While not exactly a space ship, I'd say Thunderbird 2
The Kestrel Cruiser from FTL. Even though it's not even the coolest ship in the game, The Kestrel is still the most nostalgic for me.
It brings me back to when I first played FTL a decade ago. I was a kid back then and loved the game so much, I even built and painted a cardboard Kestrel model.
Daedalus.
I am mildly obsessed with the Saturn V. It's just such a feat of engineering and human cooperation.
A-wing Interceptor from Star Wars.
BC-304. The Prometheus was so ugly in comparison.
Shout-out to the basic cable show that was giving us Hollywood-level visual effects effects as early as 2004.
Atlantis gets visual effects Emmy nomination
The Atlantis Effect: An Interview With Mark Breakspear
GW: Visually, which is your favorite episode of Atlantis so far?
MB: “The Eye.” The Rainmaker team created their own CG software to create the stormy water for the ocean. The level of detail and control has never been seen in TV effects before. Dan and Jose at Rainmaker pulled out all the stops and created mind-blowing shots. I think we went about 3.5 times over budget on that one — but you can’t get away with crap. You guys can spot that a mile away, and nothing kills a show quicker than cheap looking effects.
The Swordfish from Cowboy Bebop. I recently bought a rather expensive model of it. Totally worth it though.
The Hail Mary currently. Just such a cool ship from a fun book. To think about what would go into building it and what that means to humanity is humbling.
Other notables:
- Enterprise E from First Contact because it looks cool.
- Cygnus from The Black Hole
- Sulaco from Aliens
- Trimaxion Drone Ship from Flight of the Navigator
- The Abominator-class Offensive Unit Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints (my usual favourite lol)
The USS Defiant. Coolest ship in Starfleet.
While I know it's easy to hate on everything MCU these days, I do still absolutely love the Milano from Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2. The design doesn't feel practical at all, but it's still a really fun to look at and agile ship, which is something a lot of sci fi doesn't really depict very well.
Oldie but a goodie: the Star Fury fighter from Babylon 5.
Imperial star destroyer
The Intrepid class of star ships.
Hard sci-fi: The Rocinante
Floppy sci-f: The A-Wing
The Yamato!
The Rocinante is an obvious pick.
I also really like the ships in Starfield, mainly because I'm a cassette futurism shill.
There's a lot of ships I like in sci-fi, but the one that comes to mind at the moment is the garfish-class cruiser in robotech
Or if we're talking about real spacecraft here, I like the soyuz (and really the whole r-7 derived rocket family to be honest), as I like the look of it's side boosters and the four engine bells on each engine
The Yggdrasill from Hyperion.
The one from The Fountain was kinda similar. It was unique enough to stick with me over the years anyway.
I don't know if Ringworld really counts as a ship but I loved that too. The Out Of Band 2 from A Fire Upon The Deep seemed like it would be pretty baddass. Or the alien ship from Rendezvous with Rama.
Definitely the Enterprise-E absolutely perfect.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/enterprise-e-c68e0b0a794446a1ae04ebf564b41b16
Honourable mention to the Roci though
Space Battleship Yamato, original model
Serenity. Just the nicest "home" you can keep flying.
Penny Royal, from Neal Asher's Technician and Dark Intelligence.
The Kiith Somtaaw Archangel-class Dreadnought
I'll pick the Bowie from Guardians of the Galaxy.
It's a fast ship that can flown solo, but also comfortably carry six people with their own quarters. It's fast, can cloak itself and defend itself from anything it can't outrun or hide from.
I don't want a big starship that needs a big crew to fly. But, I don't want a small ship that can't carry guests.
Despite the many, many problems with the show, I'd say The Lexx.
Swims Against the Current in a Stream Reflecting the Sun
Odyssee class!
The Phalanx
The Ebon Hawk
Discovery (2001) and Leonov (2010).
Or, from system shock 2, the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker.
... you know what, they're spaceships, so all of them.
The Nomandy from Mass Effect
The lexx of course it's the most powerful ship in both universes.
The USS Crawlspace!
The wedge ships belonging to the Chitzas in the books from the "quantum series" by Douglas Phillips. they were bad ass ships ran by badass little porcupine dudes. They were able to travel beyond the visible universe in hours. The books were so much fun.
Lambda-class T-4a shuttle
I remember seeing it for the first time and falling in love with sci-fi forever
Mega maid. Commence suction.
SDF1
Le Romano Fafard
I've always had a strange affinity for Dark Star.
It's so hard to choose one, but I'll say that I'm a sucker for the Enterprise-E (this is just what I can think of right now)
the Far Star
