Mr Sudlow pointed out the amazingly intricate, and imagination-inflating image above (horribly destroyed by my shrinking it) entitled “Our First Travels” over at the CGSociety forums.  Created by the user Lemog for a competition (themed on Space Opera) it shows what Victorian engineering – still fresh from creating the Crystal Palace etc – could have imagined their first trip into space might be like.  Glass and steel wings, with ornate walkways and ballast bags, with gentlepeople taking the ‘air’ and enjoying the spectacle.  Quite beautiful.
Appropriately though (and equally impressive) the artist created a followup image, imagining the trip home to Paris.  Entitled “The Last Travel” it gives a better view of the spacevessel (and there’s not much to it) and a better sense of scale – landing, with people grabbing the ropes to steady it, it descends into a beautiful courtyard, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  Very lovely indeed.