Size
Length (total)
Width (total)
Height (total)
Blue shuttle length
Blue shuttle height
Booster body width
132 mm
28 mm
23 mm
50 mm
14 mm
15 mm
5 1/8 in
1 1/8 in
7/8 in
2 in
9/16 in
5/8 in
Features
Small shuttle launches from spring-loaded tube at front of main body.
Large blue shuttle can be attached underneath main body or in launching tube.
Markings
The Nuclear Ferry shuttle carries the actual trademark, the other components are unmarked.
No variations are known, but the magenta varnish on the plated parts can be applied more or less thickly, producing different tints.
Prototypes & Mockups
The Representations photographs for the design registration (linked below) for this toy show that the markings underneath the main shuttle have been defaced but are visible enough to see that they apparently ran from front to back instead of across the body as on the production toy.
Packaging
Origin
The Spacex Nuclear Ferry is based on a proposed design for a spacecraft by Ling-Temco-Vought from the early 1960s, which subsequently received wide exposure through a painted illustration by Robert McCall.
McCall's painting next served as origin for both a larger toy in the Project Sword fleet and the Spacex toy.
Registered Design/Design Patent
UK Registered Design
945116
29 April 1970
Toy Space Vehicle