These Are The Best Fictional Spaceships, According To Astronauts – What Are Yours?

Science fiction loves space travel. In the absence of a Stargate, to travel between the stars and explore the cosmos, you need spaceships. There are fast ones and slow ones, realistic ones and some that are sadly completely impossible. So many have captured the imagination of people across movies, television, video games, and novels. But is there one that we can objectively crown the best?

The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

I'm in a room with four European Space Agency astronauts, ostensibly to talk about the positive result from the recent Ministerial Council, where the budget of the agency for the next few years is decided. We talked about missions to dangerous asteroids, the hunt for alien life on Enceladus and Mars, and how ESA will go forth and build a space station around the Moon. However, I couldn’t help but sneak in a couple of nerdy questions, such as what do they think is the best movie set in space or which spacecraft they would like to captain if they could choose from the vast realms of science fiction. In my defense, we were left unsupervised.

Veteran astronauts, former Commander of the ISS, Samantha Cristoforetti, and Alexander Gerst, immediately claimed the USS Enterprise. Before the Trekkies ask, they meant the Enterprise-D. For everyone else, that's the one from Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

"If I could command a spacecraft, and I could choose, I would take the Enterprise," Gerst said with a grin. "The thought of flying out there and seeing all those new worlds, and learning those new things, that would be fantastic."

"I also have the haircut of Captain Picard," he pointed out.

"Live long and prosper!" Cristoforetti laughed. 

Rosemary Coogan, belonging to the new class of astronauts, the "Hoppers", picked the legendary Star Wars vessel of Han Solo (and Lando Calrissian). "I mean, there are a lot of good choices out there, some really iconic things, but yeah, I'm going to throw out the Millennium Falcon," she said.

Fellow Hopper Pablo Álvarez Fernández instead pointed out, "as a fellow Spaniard, I need to pick Rocinante from The Expanse."

Solid choices for sure, and each with its pros and cons. We wanted to take stock of how realistic or not these spaceships were, but we were also curious if these choices aligned with the general public. In a not-at-all scientific poll, we asked the members of the Facebook group The Lighter Side of Science to vote for their favorite among 21 famous fictional spacecrafts from popular media. There were 5,257 votes cast, and these were the top 5!

In fifth place is the Rocinante 

The spacecraft is almost a main character in The Expanse TV series and books, and it should be better known, because both the original source and TV adaptations are great. Eight percent of voters agreed. To top it all off, it is the most realistic of all the spaceships on the list, with no magical gravity to keep actors on the ground. Its engine, the now-unfortunately-named Epstein Drive, pushes known physics to the limit.

In fourth place, we find Serenity

The slightly beat-up spaceship is also practically a main character of the TV series Firefly and the eponymous follow-up movie. Another solid, realistic choice, with 9 percent of the votes. The ship piloted by Wash (Alan Tudyk) and captained by space cowboy Mal (Nathan Fillion) moves among the worlds of a much smaller star system where humanity has migrated after using up all Earth’s resources. I always think of the TRAPPIST-1 system when I think about Firefly, but so far those planets are just Earth-sized, not Earth-like.

The Tardis claims third place

With a vworp and 12 percent of the votes, the Tardis slides into third place. The blue police box that is bigger on the inside is the iconic time-and-space-traveling vessel from the British TV series Doctor Who. You will not be surprised to know that the Tardis is not realistic. We know, shocker! But of the many fantastical properties the fictional time machine has, the biggest challenge to reality is the ability to actually go to a precise point in space and time (which, to be fair, the Tardis often fails for narrative purposes). In our real universe, there is no absolute space or time. All is relative, even from sea level to up a mountain!

Second place silver: Millennium Falcon

The silver medal goes to the Millennium Falcon. Sure, the jump to hyperspace might not be really scientific (and it's always a good time to remind people a parsec is a unit of distance, not time), but it needed math to do a proper jump and not end up through a planet or another spacecraft. Would it be the ship to travel the universe with? 21 percent of the voters think so! That said, in the immortal words of General Leia Organa: "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!”

Enterprise-D takes the top spot

And the winner, with 24 percent of the votes, is the Enterprise D. And we get it. OK, dilithium crystals and going to warp are not a thing, but you are traveling through the galaxy in style. You have replicators for your libations, comfortable spaces, and entertainment suites. Sure, you might have to occasionally fight the Borg, but that simply spices things up!

And there you have it, both the people and the astronauts broadly agree on their favorite spacecraft. Live long and prosper indeed!