
Image credit: McDonnell
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: McDonnell
Image source: Numbers Station

After completing its run to the manned orbiting lab, an Astroplane space ferry glides in for a regular landing.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Aerojet-General
Image source: Numbers Station

Still another possible space ferry of tomorrow is this huge Astroplane-10 liquid rocket system that can blast off from earth like a missile and later land like a regular airplane.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Aerojet-General
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: McDonnell Douglas
Image source: Numbers Station

Another function of a future space station will be to service and inspect unmanned satellites. Here is an artist’s sketch showing an astronaut team, who travelled to their targets in a space ferry from an orbital station, working on various kinds of space probes.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: General Electric
Image source: Numbers Station

Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Douglas
Image source: Numbers Station

Space shuttles at work. In the background, a space station cluster extends its manipulating arms to assist a shuttlecraft in docking.
Our World in Space
Robert McCall & Isaac Asimov
New York Graphic Society, 1974
Image credit: Robert McCall
Image source: Numbers Station

Inside the cockpit of a shuttlecraft, with the pilot and co-pilot preparing for docking with a space station.
Our World in Space
Robert McCall & Isaac Asimov
New York Graphic Society, 1974
Image credit: Robert McCall
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: North American Rockwell
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: AEC
Image source: Numbers Station