Post a random Star Trek image

Randoms: 1) Variable Gravity Research Facility "Newton", a 1989 spinning station proposal 2) Project Adam: the US Army's 1958 quick and dirty crewed spaceship design based on the Project Manhigh capsule 3) Priyut, my design for a TKS derived rescue ship

Orbital Transfer Vehicle, an unbuilt space tug from the 80s. The OTV was designed to ferry payloads to geosynchronous orbit and beyond. Once done, it would fall back to Earth, skim the planet's atmosphere to slow down, and return to a space station to refuel for the next mission.

Lunar Reconnaissance Gemini: In the leadup to the Apollo landings, McDonnell proposed using a modified Gemini module to collect photographs of the land sites and develop navigation techniques for future flights.

Dark mode randoms: 1) Flyback Space Shuttle early concept 2) Apollo 13 3) Vostok 1 4) Apollo A, early concept for long duration flight research

Mustang personal shuttle, a concept for the 22nd century.

An unused 70s design for the Space Shuttle after engine cutoff. The concept depicted here had the Orbiter launched piggyback on a bigger piloted shuttle. The launcher would return to Earth for refurbishment and more launches.

Landsat images from "Mission to Earth" (1976) (1/3)

A concept for a spherical space-based solar farm, sometime in the 2100s.

China's 2040s Neptune probe is not only investigating Neptune, it will also release secondary probes to study asteroids or centaurs between Jupiter and Neptune. The targets have not been announced, but I rendered it here with 5145 Pholus.

Gemini: 1. Gemini 6A and 7 (historical mission) 2. Gemini Lunar Rescue (unbuilt) 3. Big Gemini Space Station Logistics (unbuilt) 4. Gemini - Pegasus Rendezvous (unflown)

China's long-term space exploration plans include a nuclear powered probe to Neptune, launching in the 2030s. It doesn't have a name yet, but I think Jingwei would be a good one.

China's CNSA is planning an ambitious mission to send a probe to Neptune, scheduled to arrive in 2040. The probe will use a nuclear reactor to power electric thrusters. As far as I'm aware, a name hasn't been announced yet, so provisionally I'm calling this Jingwei.

An update: links to my profiles on other platforms + links to my short stories are in the Linktree on my profile page.

Apollo Applications (unbuilt): Crewed Venus Flyby, Astronomy Interferometer, X-Ray Telescope, GEO Comm Antenna.

Early Space Shuttle concepts planned for the Orbiter to be launched from a crewed, reusable booster that was essentially a space shuttle in itself.

Some pictures of NYC buildings that I took with my phone.

Space Shuttle launch in an alternate timeline. Early proposals for the Space Shuttle system included a reusable, crewed flyback booster, seen here after Orbiter separation.

22nd century spacecraft concepts: 1) Koshiba Neutrino Lab (under construction) 2) NOAA Wexler Research Station 3) UN Orbital Algae Farm 4) International Mercury Explorer

Apollo 5 (January 22, 1968), was the first test of the Lunar Module. The flight was uncrewed, and stayed in Earth orbit. Visually, LM-1 differed from later LMs. It did not have landing legs, used silver-colored insulation, and had more unpainted panels on the Ascent Stage.

Commercial spaceflight alt-1980s: Eastern Air Lines service to a space station.

Renders of Lanyue, China's lunar lander. The last picture is a concept for a joint US-China landing; a 21st century take on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

My newest short story "Maximally Extended" is out today in this anthology from Angry Gable Press. Featuring black hole topology and far future speculation. Really excited about this because it's my first print anthology. a.co/d/dDd1qOq

Early Space Shuttle plans included a crewed, reusable booster that would fly back to Earth after launching the Orbiter; rendered here before beginning its descent.

Landsat images from "Mission to Earth" (1976) (1/3)

The International Mercury Explorer: my design for a crewed Mercury mission in the 2100s, based on the astrology symbol for the planet. The wheel spins to provide artificial gravity, the probes on the front generate a magnetic field for radiation protection.

North American Rockwell's early Space Shuttle design docked with McDonnell Douglas's Growth Space Station concept. A modular space station in another timeline.

Something to read on a hot summer day. cornerbarmagazine.com Volume 10 Issue 4

The Space Shuttle in an alternate timeline. Early concepts for the Shuttle proposed using a crewed, reusable fly-back booster to launch the Orbiter into space. After launch, the booster would fly back to Earth for refurbishment.

Question for whoever: at this point I more or less understand what the rest of the instruments in the LM did, but I've always been confused by this cross hairs thing. What is it? And what is it showing?

Cat pics: Apollo and Artemis

Palette swap: Gemini <-> Apollo

Space Shuttle Polaris, an alternate history take on the Shuttle based on early designs from North American Rockwell.

Landsat images from "Mission to Earth", 1976 (1/3)

The Space Shuttle went through many design iterations during development. This is what the shuttle looked like in 1969. During this point in development North American Rockwell planned to use a crewed, reusable flyback booster to get the orbiter into space.

Randoms: 1) Apollo Applications inflatable satellite concept (unbuilt) 2) Big Gemini space station logistics craft (unbuilt) 3) CNSA Mengzhou and Lanyue lunar exploration stack (upcoming) 4) Growth Space Station concept from the Apollo era (unbuilt)

Just saw Moonwalkers. If you have a chance and it's in your city, make sure to see it. I highly recommend it.

My newest short story is in this: "The Unfiltered View". Check it out. F-4 Phantoms / Space Shuttles / Psychedelic Drugs apocalypse-confidential.com/2025/06/28/a...

Modularity: In 1971, NASA and the American Institute of Architects held an interior design contest for future space stations. Twenty-seven student architects submitted both interior and exterior configurations. I modeled my favorites. #1 was the winner of the competition.

My newest short story is in this: "The Unfiltered View". Check it out. F-4 Phantoms / Space Shuttles / Psychedelic Drugs apocalypse-confidential.com/2025/06/28/a...

TPM: pod race AOTC: fireside chat where Padme says she can't date because she's a senator ROTS: Battle of Coruscant SOLO: (don't remember enough) R1: Scarif space battle ANH: trench run ESB: Hoth battle ROTJ: Endor space battle Cont/d...

Spaceflight, alternate 70s: a Big Gemini docked to the McDonnell Douglas Growth Space Station.

McDonnell Douglas's vision of 70s spaceflight: a Big Gemini docked to the Growth Space Station. The Big Gemini was the company's concept for a space station logistics craft based on the Gemini. The GSS was their concept for a modular space station.

My newest short story, a postmodern piece of flash fiction entitled "Flash Fiction." pixelatedshroud.wordpress.com/2025/06/22/f...

Some pictures I took with my phone this spring.

The International Mercury Explorer returns to Earth. This is my design for a crewed Mercury exploration vessel in the 2100s, based on the astrology sign for the planet. The front habitation ring spins, and the arms are massive EM generators to protect the crew from radiation.

Landsat Images from "Mission to Earth", 1976.

The Growth Space Station, McDonnell Douglas's 1971 concept for a modular space station. More details + a big 400 page study paper in quoted thread.

Modular space station, 70s style --- the concept of a modular station has been around for a while, you'll see it a lot in older NASA concept art. This model is based on a 1971 design by McDonnell Douglas called the Growth Space Station (GSS).