What about rocket ships?

The R-7 carried the Sputnik satellite and let it go, but Bonestell's rocket carried a "rocket ship" as the third stage, free to maneuver once orbited.

This visualization from 1952 in, Across the Space Frontier, made clear that mankind was to permenantly operate in the orbital environment. This vehicle is called in the book the Third Stage, which is one of the rocket ships that helps in the eventual construction of a space habitat.

There is an astronomical observatory (the skeletal structure in center-right) with an astronaut moving to it. The two pods are space taxis bringing them to and fro.