I'm playing a civ 3 game on the easiest setting as the French. It is the very end of the game and I have all the pieces of the ship completed. Everything is good but I can not launch the space-ship. When I try to open the space-ship menu with F11, nothing happens. Is there another way you can launch the ship or am I stuck? Is this a glitch or am I missing something obvious? Thanks!

Is it past the year 2050? Have you won by some other method already?

These are the most common erasons for this. If you have won (or lost) and play on (especially if you play past 2050AD), you cannot launch the spaceship, or win in any other manner. You can merely "play".

Ah, thanks, I forgot that I was past 2050.