A workhorse warship bristling with antennae, the USS Sulaco was a troop transport for the Colonial Marines. In Aliens (1986), where it served to transport Ellen Ripley and a squad of marines to the doomed world of LV-426. There, they discovered the dark fate of the Hadley’s Hope colony – at the hands (and jaws) of a Xenomorph infestation.

With its elongated exterior designed by Syd Mead (Blade Runner, Tron, Star Trek), and its cold, industrial interior designed by Ron Cobb (The Abyss, Total Recall, Back to the Future), the Sulaco immediately captured the imaginations of audiences worldwide. Its sinister, gun-like silhouette was a far cry from the clunky civilian mining vessel of the Nostromo – a reflection of Ripley’s own transformation into a hardened survivor…