Launch on Demand

A versatile, reusable vehicle to access low Earth Orbit is the Holy Grail for the Astronautics community. The Space Shuttle, with its expendable tank, refurbishable Solid Rocket Boosters, and long periods of servicing between every flight, never lived up to this expectation (nor was it meant to. The U.S. Congress declined to fund the full system) So this still remains a science fiction dream today. Here we see two such craft, ascending together into orbit.

This piece started out as a test of Vue Studio 7's cloud rendering. I liked what I got, and ended up bringing it into Lightwave as a backdrop, where I rendered the Arks.

Thanks for taking a look!