To discover distant worlds, one has to be fast. And sometimes they even have to transcend the boundaries of space and time – because they have to cover enormous distances. Engineers and science fiction authors have come up with some impressive spaceships, from the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars to the USS Enterprise from the Star Strek crew. Stay tuned as we want to introduce the 10 fastest spaceships in the world.
Galactica
The series Battlestar Galactica takes its name from the Galactica cruiser, the only “survivor” of the war of the humans against the rebel robots. The massive ship can cross a galaxy in 6 days and its engines are powered by tylium, which is a highly volatile liquid fuel derived from mines found only on certain planets.
Space Shuttle
It reached a speed of 29,000 km/h (slightly more than the International Space Station, which orbits at a speed of 27,600 km/h) and thus it is one of the fastest spaceships in the world.
Jupiter 2
It carries inside the Robinson family in search of a planet more welcoming than Earth, which had become totally uninhabitable. The TV series Lost in Space was based on the homonymous film, in which the ship, however, looked different. It is less fast than many others: it takes 5 years to get to Alpha Centauri, the closest planet to the Sun.
Serenity
It is the cargo-ship used by the main characters of the TV series Firefly from which was taken the movie Serenity. The vehicle is robust and easy to repair but is also quite fast: it can travel the distance between the Sun and Earth in 16 days. Stay tuned to know more spacecrafts in out list of top 10 fastest spaceships in the universe.
New Horizons
The fastest spaceship ever built is New Horizons that flew to Pluto touching the speed of 58.338 km/h. This speed is not given by the engines, which are used only to correct the trajectory, but by the thrust of the starting rocket plus a small but effective “slingshot effect” caused by the passage near Jupiter.
In fact, as the fussiest people could object, the speed of Voyager 2 with respect to the Sun is now equal to 61.380 km/h, thanks to the slingshot effects caused by the close passages to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Apollo 11, the fastest ever manned spacecraft (about 39.800 km/h), and Helios 2, the fastest ever manned spacecraft (252.000 km/h on the heliocentric course) should also be mentioned.
Tardis
The Doctor Who series’ blue “phone booth” (the Tardis) is one of the fastest space ships ever. It can transport “passengers” instantly to any place in time and space. Featuring a universe-traveling alien who only goes by the name “the Doctor,” the show has the longevity record for a sci-fi series.
Enterprise
This famous Star Trek ship commanded by Captain Kirk moves using “warp drive” which is able to provoke a perturbation in space-time that allows the ship to move from one place to another. This is a battlecruiser that is owned by the United Federation of Planets (which brings together many “star systems”) and has the mission to explore the universe.
Millennium Falcon
It doesn’t need any introduction: it can travel in hyperspace, a “parallel” zone that coexists with our universe. Originally born as a “light freighter”, employed by some “legal” merchants, it was later transformed into a smugglers’ ship; the ship disappeared at the sight of enemies with a white flash, symbolizing the cosmic background radiation of the universe.
Planet Express
The Planet Express shuttle is the protagonist of the TV cartoon series Futurama. It travels very fast (just 3 seconds between the Earth and the Moon) but above all, it uses an original system: its “dark matter and whale blubber” engines keep the ship immobile while the universe around it moves depending on where the shuttle needs to go.
Golden Heart
The Golden Heart is the spaceship utilized by the protagonists of the movie Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, from the novels by Douglas Adams. It enables them to jump from one point to another in the universe using its “infinite improbability” button… The only problem is that the passengers don’t know where they’re going.
Do you any other spacecraft which could have a place in our list of top 10 fastest spaceships in the world? Lets us know in the comments section below.
