A collection of spaceship design notes.
Five Earths, All in a Row[]
Infopunk Earth (2014): Mostly modified aircraft, with some purpose-built space vehicles, not all of which are capable of landing on a planet. The US Space Force (and some other forces) get annoyed if you call their spacecraft spaceships, because space is not an ocean, and most USSF personnel came from the US Air Force, not the US Navy. Launch propulsion and non-warp sub-light engines are mostly fusion-impulse rockets, something NASA had been working on in RL.
Dieselpunk Earth (1942): Rockets, though the Allies and some others use them in puller configuration, with the engines in front. Like the USSF, the US Rocket Service, whose experienced military personnel were mostly recruited from the US Army (primarily the Coast Artillery Corps, the Field Artillery, and the Army Air Forces), dislikes it when people call their rockets 'spaceships.' Launch and non-warp propulsion mostly involved enhanced solid- or liquid-fueled rockets, though they are transitioning to atomic rockets now. Their space programs are closer to their infancy than Stp-Earth, though they're putting a lot of effort into it, and have a fair bit of outside help, on top of having more 'natural' magical materials than any other Earth save Fa-Earth.
Steampunk Earth (1880): Astronefs of various designs (mostly bullet-shaped, some designed for water-landings have boat keels, a few use glider-like designs intended for runway landings), sent into space by multi-stage rockets. Launch and non-warp propulsion mostly involved enhanced solid- or liquid-fueled rockets. Might transition to atomic rockets at a later time.
Clockpunk Earth (1557): None at this time, but they're getting a lot of help from Stp Earth, and so their eventual space vessels are likely to resemble those of Steampunk Earth to some degree.
Fantasy Earth (516 CE/1269 AUC): No material spacecraft at this time, but they have learned to send spirits to the other Earths, and elsewhere in their Solar system. When they do get material spacecraft, though, a lot of them will most likely resemble enclosed versions of spelljammer ships.