Space Ships

[bednobs]

could you make them any shape - after all aerodynamics don't matter in space do they?

[jomifl]

The shape of an interstellar space ship would be determined by several factors. If you have an engine at the back end that may be hazardous to the crew by the production of ionizing radiation then the crew would need to be as far as possible from it as other safety considerations allow. The space ship would need to be of such a shape that the thrust from the engine passed as nearly through its constituents as possible so a to minimize the amount of structural materials needed. This gives a long thin structure with in order from the front particle shield, water tank, provisions, accommodation, fuel, engine. By being long and thin there is less chance of collisions with particles and the crew is as far away from the hazard of collision and engines as possible. It would probably look like a radio mast or tube with lots of bits bolted on the outside, so that they could be jettisoned if needed, an engine at one end and a shield wide enough to protect the essential bits at the front. This layout has been re-invented many times.

[KirkUSA]

The most efficient use of materials is a sphere. The greatest volume per surface area of any shape.

[Woz_A]

If you really want to pick the nit, you would probably have to take in to consideration Cosmic dust and radiation ( of all forms. ) Given that photons are beleived to be responsible for moving around large chunks of rock in the asteroid belt you probably wouldn't want to have a large flat surface facing towards a star.
Collision with space dust at any appreciable speed would have to be considered in terms of damage it could cause to the craft and Collection of space dust would also increase the overall mass of the craft and thereby increase its inertia requiring more power to move it.
So assuming you are never going to pass through an atmosphere its really a question of how fast you want to go, how far, and how much energy you have to expend driving the thing.

[oldgreyweird]

TV & film spaceships are just designed to look pretty. It has been suggested that spacecraft could have rocks, asteroids or ice mounted in front of them to absorb impact from particles, rocks, or whatever.

[Tinker,Wales]

Lots of space ships in Science Fiction (books/comics/movies) tend to be circular, or tubular. this is not so much to let them travel more easily through space, but to assist the vessel to spin so that centrifugal/centripetal force can create a form of pseudo gravity within the ship.