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Golf balls of infinity. I've always had a fondness
for the
Aries lunar shuttle from 2001: a Space Odyssey.It's
such a perfect example of how people thought space exploration was
going to go. The '60s were a time when the Americans and the
Soviets were rolling out new spaceship models and makes as fast as
Detroit ever did. It seemed entirely logical that the string
kites of Apollo should soon be surpassed by the space-faring DC-3s and
then the Comets of later decades.
The
Aires is exactly the sort of thing that everyone expected; a
lunar shuttle that was an obvious descendant of the Apollo LEM.
The 2001 model was bigger, more powerful and clearly a sturdy beast
for the milk run between Station V and Clavius Base, but that
undercarriage, those attitude control jets. Why, you can see
grandpa in every line. Furthermore, unlike most other sci-fi
spaceships, the Aires actually looks like it can carry enough
fuel for the job, as opposed to others which seem to carry their fuel
under the pilot's seat!
