After '69 and before '89...

National Geographic's special publication, Man's Conquest of Space, was released just after Gene Cernan became the 12th and last earthling to step on the Moon in 1972.

The special publication featured a chapter on the future of space exploration, and depicted what NASA's next big thing would be, a "reusable orbiter of the future".

By this, the mid-70s, plans for the shuttle were already being executed.

Sleeker and more "spaceship like" than the Soyuz or Apollo crafts, the shuttle excited the imaginations of millions.