SPACEX NUCLEAR FERRY AND BOOSTER ROCKET LAUNCHING SPACESHIP ORIGIN

Recently at 'Geekstock', courtesy of the mighty WOTAN, I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time in my life the awesome Century 21 Nuclear Ferry. It was even better than expected and took my breath away. Incredibly well constructed it really is a sleek and beautiful toy in one of the best space toy boxes of the time with the fab Rob McCall-inspired artwork. Another first was handling it's little brother, the SPACEX Nuclear Ferry, which is virtually identical except for a strange miniature jet, which inserts into the front. We've seen WOTAN's little red jet before on the blog and the similar red one on the SPACEX Booster Rocket, pictured below (the silver jet is off the C21 Booster Rocket). I got to wondering if those Tri-ang Rovex/Pippin boys and girls had simply dreamt it up or were inspired by a contemporary design. I've spent a little time since and have come up with something that fits in terms of looks and timing: the PAN AM MOON EXPRESS from the 1969 film MOON ZERO TWO about a lunar mining colony (sounds like SWORD!). I'm theorising it's possible that they saw the film and hey presto, the rest is Spacex!

(bottom picture credit: http://davidszondy.com/future/moon_zero_two/pan_am.htm)

For anyone interested in the actual making of the film MOON ZERO TWO including some incredible pictures of the Moon Express and the ANT-like Moon Fargo model I recommend David Sisson's fabulous site, where an even earlier design source is suggested, the Rogallo Wing (D.Sisson/B.Hinchcliffe). This is it's Wikipedia entry. There is also an excellent Moon Zero Two section on Tales of Future Past.