Best Looking Rocket

[Jim]

I am going to start one of those threads that I usually despise*.

Here goes, what do you think is the best looking rocket. Configuration, paint job, setting, etc are all factors.

For me, one that stands out is SA-5 is for me.  It was a one of a kind configuration along with its unique paint scheme (black nose cone, checker pattern on S-IV). Additionally, most photos show the "wispy" turbine exhaust from the outer engines, which adds to the effect.  Maybe because it is unique and back in the days of learning rocket science, it gives me the impression of something futuristic.  I when I see a pic of it, I think of "The Thunderbirds"

* Maybe I despise them because they have no right "answer" or they are usually about people which no one has the insight# into what a person is really like

# voting on astronauts based on only monitoring a mission and NASA TV segments

[ugordan]

Tough choice for me, but I always had a soft spot for Skylab Saturn V a.k.a. INT-21. The combination of upper stack paint job and how it doesn't taper off as much as in Apollo makes it look wicked:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/skylab/skylab-KSC-73PC-337.jpg

[kneecaps]

That is one sweet looking rocket, but I have to throw my votes in for the way the 'classic' Saturn V is both scary powerful yet oddly majestic.

[dwmzmm]

For me, it's the Apollo/Saturn 1-B, both the real one and the models:

[Aobrien]

For me, it's the Apollo/Saturn 1-B, both the real one and the models:

Is that the one from the Sheries Hot Rockets?
For me it is the all powerfull Saturn V Rocket.

[DMeader]

Growing up with von Braun and Willey Ley, until I learned how it all worked, rockets never looked right to me if they didn't have fins. Guess that from an aesthetics standpoint I still have a bit of that bias, so I'll go along with the Saturn SA5 and 1-B. Particularly the 1-B lifting off from the milkstool so the engine start sequence isn't hidden down inside the MLP.  The AS-203 and AS-204 were interesting configurations as well. I also have a fondness for any Delta II, watching it shedding strap-ons on the way up.

[RedSky]

Yeah, for me, too, its gotta be the Saturn 1B. The swept back fins (unlike the original Saturn 1) really made it more sleek and streamlined looking. Here are all the 1B launches.  (Not so fond of the Skylab versions where the tanks were all white.  I liked the earlier black-white alternating paint pattern for the separate tanks).

[RedSky]

One of my favorite pics of the 1B...

[riney]

I always liked Vanguard; it had a certain skinny elegance about it. Plus it was quite an achievement for its day, technology-wise.

[dwmzmm]

For me, it's the Apollo/Saturn 1-B, both the real one and the models:

Is that the one from the Sheries Hot Rockets?

No, it's the SEMROC kit with the Apogee Apollo Capsule kit w/RCS.  This model was one of 30 or so that served as the table centerpiece at Walt
Cunningham's/Apollo - 7 Distinguished Service Award luncheon last October (highlighted in another thread in detail).  I am, however, building
another 1/70 scale Saturn 1-B as my Christmas Holiday project, this one
the vintage Estes kit as shown below from the 1969 Estes catalog:

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/nostalgia/69est024.html

However, like the SEMROC kit, I will be using the Apogee Apollo Capsule
for this build.

[Jim]

Yeah, for me, too, its gotta be the Saturn 1B. The swept back fins (unlike the original Saturn 1) really made it more sleek and streamlined looking. Here are all the 1B launches.  (Not so fond of the Skylab versions where the tanks were all white.  I liked the earlier black-white alternating paint pattern for the separate tanks).

Growing up, I remember the all white upper stage of the first few flights of the IB and never really like it, in addition to the swept fins (hence the affection for SA-5)

[mike robel]

Saturn I Block II, in particular SA-6/7
closely followed by the Titan IIIC-MOL with Gemini II

[eeergo]

I'll be the first to move away from American rockets. While I like SaturnV, I've always seen it as something much before my time. It also has that iconic appearance, so widely seen and recognized, I lean towards a less conventional shape as my favourite.

For me, it's the R7 derivatives, probably the Soyuz-ST variant (although most of them are beautiful to my eyes, perhaps with the exception of the first, stubby ICBM versions) From the holddown structures, holding it from the waist over the flame trench, and opening like a flower at liftoff; to the startup sequence with the different engine throttle levels; to the "cross of Korolev" when the side boosters separate, the "hot" staging, the fact four nozzles don't mean four engines... Its venerability, and interesting history are bonuses.

Another one I like is the Atlas V 5xx. It would appear I like big noses

[DMeader]

It would appear I like big noses

I rather like the Titan III and IV variants with the larger payload fairings (even if they don't have fins  ).

[The-Hammer]

I'll toss in another vote for the Titan IV.

[eeergo]

It would appear I like big noses

I rather like the Titan III and IV variants with the larger payload fairings (even if they don't have fins  ).

Fins are cool, no doubt

Sorry for contradicting, but the Titans are one vehicule I really dislike 

[ShuttleDiscovery]

I think the Soyuz rocket looks good, and also the Delta II

[edkyle99]

I have to agree.  SA-5 has always been my favorite.  Not just for what it looked like, but for what it accomplished.  SA-5 almost beat Atlas Centaur as the first successful hydrogen rocket!

But I have also always admired the Block I Saturns.  With their white upper dummy stages (S-IV *and* S-V dummies), they looked like big, sleek white rifle bullets.  SA-4, shown below, was a bit more interesting than SA-1 through SA-3 because it had dummy vent pipes, retrorockets, etc. 

Another reason I liked the Block I Saturns is that they came from another age.  They were from the 1950s - the age of oversized tailfins on big American cars.  Look at the propulsion section of the SA-T stage at Marshall.  It is all compound curves with fantastic exhaust pipes sticking out, etc.  It looked like what something from the future was supposed to look like back in 1958!  Russia's R-7 has a similar retro-future look.  Alas, the Block II Saturns were fitted with a much more mundane, and efficient, cylindrical propulsion section.

No fins on those Block I's either!

 - Ed Kyle

[AnimatorRob]

Although it had a short and somewhat ignominious life, I always liked the Delta III.

[Eerie]

No one likes the Shuttle, he-he.

I think Delta-4 Heavy is very nice.