Mack Crawford

Boeing's Personnel Launch System approaching Freedom to dock

After reaching orbit, Boeing's Personnel Launch System separates from the second stage of its ALS rocket, rotates around, and redocks to and extracts a comanifested space station logistics module, to be tugged to Freedom

Agena was more than just an upper stage, it could also operate as a satellite bus, performing months-or-years-long missions after inserting itself into orbit. For instance, the KH-8 reconnaissance satellite Render in Blender

Saturn II (INT-18) was a proposed derivative of Saturn V, eliminating the S-IC. A modified S-II would become the new stage 1, augmented by Titan SRBs. The study considered various configurations, with 5 or 7 J-2s, stretching the S-II, and 2 or 4 SRBs with 4, 5, or 7 segments

McDonnell Douglas's reusable Space Transportation System booster deploys a modified Saturn S-II upper stage on a heavy-lift cargo mission. The McD STS could fly with either a reusable orbiter, S-II, or S-IVB augmented with optional solid boosters

Launch of McDonnell Douglas's Space Shuttle proposal. The orbiter is carried to altitude aboard a winged flyback booster, which can also be used with a conventional upper stage for heavy uncrewed launches

Design evolution of the Blue Moon HLS (approximately to scale)

The Blue Moon Human Landing System, moments before touchdown on the lunar surface

Blue Moon Mk2 begins its deorbit burn over the moon

Agena-D in flight, prior to fairing separation I wish Agena was still in service in an evolved form, like Centaur

The ascent vehicle of a Mars lander redocks to the nadir port of Copernicus, as its crew prepare for the several-month trip back to Earth

MTV Copernicus braking into Mars orbit, ahead of rendezvous with the lander that will take its crew to the surface

Ares V's 12 meter diameter payload fairing separates, exposing the propulsion module of a Copernicus Mars Transfer Vehicle on its way to orbit

With Centaur V being designed for several-day missions, it is possible that (especially if refueled) the new SLS configuration could place Orion directly in low lunar orbit, rather than just TLI

Initial Manned Orbital Laboratories would be single-use, but later missions could leave the lab and KH-10 imaging system or other module in orbit for reuse. Later missions could either use a Gemini alone to revisit the station, or add on additional modules

Prior to Earth departure, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter's nuclear reactor is not active. Two Delta Cryogenic Propulsion stages, launched separately and modified with docking and extended-duration flight capabilities, boost the probe most of the way to transjupiter injection

The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter maneuvers during a close pass of Europa. Its ion engines consume nearly 200 kilowatts of power, generated by an onboard nuclear reactor

A Turtle Orbital Transfer Vehicle in high-Earth orbit

A Turtle Orbital Transfer Vehicle docks to Delta Station after returning from lunar orbit, alongside a Space Shuttle orbiter

Ascent of Boeing's Advanced Launch System carrying the biconic Personnel Launch System. PLS can be carried by either the 1.5 or 2 stage ALS, depending on whether or not a comanifested payload is carried

Boeing's biconic Personnel Launch System docks at a nadir port of Space Station Freedom

For the first time ever, NASA is preparing for a medical evacuation of an ISS crew. Sure would be nice if there was a Crew Return Vehicle designed specifically for evacuations, with a low-g reentry and land-landing to reduce risk to injured or ill crewmembers

After completing its deorbit burn, Boeing's Personnel Launch System detaches its expendable service module. Though expended, the SM is very simple; just structures, radiators, and 3 pressure-fed engines. All RCS, power, GNC, and ECLSS hardware remains in the reusable capsule

McDonnell Douglas's MURP (Manned Upper-stage Reusable Payload) separates from the Chrysler SERV (Single-stage Earth-orbital Reusable Vehicle), tugging a station module behind it (References for MURP are relatively limited, so don't rely on this as authoritative)

I think this is all of the Shuttle-derived launch vehicles I've modeled (I now have so many rocket models I have to make separate rocket garden pictures divided by category, can't fit all in one picture) Which is your favorite, and why is it the 2009 Sidemount HLV?

NASA's First Lunar Outpost at lunar morning. The pressurized element is derived from Space Station Freedom's laboratory/habitat modules. In the distance, a set of deployable experiment packages have been set up for astronomical and geological observations

Blue's new deployable heat shield seems very useful for something like this

Space Transfer Concepts and Analyses for Exploration Missions (STCAEM): A Boeing Mars mission concept from the 1990s. Two broad variants were proposed, with either chemical propulsion and aerocapture or nuclear-thermal propulsion

My full set of renders of Delta Clipper: Launch, payload deployment, station servicing, and reentry

The X-20 Dyna-Soar reentering Earth's atmosphere

Crew Dragon transfers passengers to a Cygnus-derived transit habitat on Cislunar Transporter, to be delivered to a waiting lander in lunar orbit

The "Mission-B" Cygnus, for use on the remaining CRS2 Cygnus flights. Mostly differentiated visually by a 4th PCM segment, but there are lots of subsystem changes as well to support longer-duration flights, reduce cost, and support more complex applications beyond simple cargo

Blue Moon Mk2 being maneuvered and refueled by the Cislunar Transporter

Sadly, Dyna-Soar and MOL could have never met in orbit: X-20 was canceled the same day the MOL program began. I still think of them as siblings though

For an early crewed lunar flyby, a follow-on to Gemini-Agena was proposed where a modified Gemini would dock to a pair of Transtages, which would boost it to TLI

triangle

An operational derivative of the X-20 docked to a wet workshop built around an S-IV stage Not much published on the station, but likely served a similar role to MOL