When production of spaceships happens on eart (or other plantes) you need to get the parts in space using cylindrical rockets. So it makes makes sense to end up with cylindrical spaceships. Although, the ISS consists out of cylindrical parts it’s not just a long boi.
There’s no other real practical reason, since in space there’s no friction you could make a dodecahedron without any loss in engine performance.
The pressure is not really a constraint as the vessle needs to withstand is “only” 1Bar (equivalent of 10meters below water).
I think moving the ISS at any significant speed to reach another planet would be problematic with all the bits on the side too, unless thrust was balanced across the whole craft. I know they do this slowly to regain altitude, but interplanetary missions need to be faster than that.
When production of spaceships happens on eart (or other plantes) you need to get the parts in space using cylindrical rockets. So it makes makes sense to end up with cylindrical spaceships. Although, the ISS consists out of cylindrical parts it’s not just a long boi.
There’s no other real practical reason, since in space there’s no friction you could make a dodecahedron without any loss in engine performance. The pressure is not really a constraint as the vessle needs to withstand is “only” 1Bar (equivalent of 10meters below water).
I think moving the ISS at any significant speed to reach another planet would be problematic with all the bits on the side too, unless thrust was balanced across the whole craft. I know they do this slowly to regain altitude, but interplanetary missions need to be faster than that.