Has anyone thought of the old 50s era stuff like Destination: Moon? That one's actually not completely absurd, although some of the other stuff out there was awful, like Conquest of Space and Rocketship XM. All three of these had atomic rockets which were, for the day, based on real life ideas.
Conquest of Space is a pretty awful script and story, but some of the space vehicles are very cool and kind of realistic, including the wheel station, presumably nuclear-powered, and the other space vehicles:
Rocketship XM was just ridiculous, but atomic rockets are atomic rockets after all. Any addon for this stuff has to come with launch site scenery that includes 1950s cars and guys in lab coats and thick glasses: