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!

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