Colonies in Space

Though some parts of this book are much out of date, it is a must read for all who dream of reaching for the stars.Dr. Heppenheimer provides a clear view and goal for which the entire nation can aspire, rather than waste oure efforts on Mars.Unlike Mars, Colonization of space around L4 and L5 of the moon is an achievable goal, which could have been achieved in our life time had it not been for the short sightedness of the federal government back during the seventies. Had it not been for that, our children would be living among the stars today. Fact is, so much of the Fedral government is a waste of money that could have been spent here for something truly worth while.Imagine if you will a world of rolling grass covered hills and green vallies, much like Seattle and and various other areas, endless land and clean aiar for which real families can grow and thrive without any restrictions on resources. This is the interior of a Space Island. This world, if we reaach for it, can be our's. I would urge that this book be updated and brought back into print and be made required reading for all High School Science students so that they may learn to reach for the stars.Another book worth reading on this subject is The HIGH FRONTIER by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill.

This is a very good book and honestly my favorite book of all non-fiction (excepting scripture, of course).It gives highly detailed and intimate information on the plans that were to be used for building space colonies starting in the late 70's.One of the main reasons to build such a colony, says the book, would be to build large power satellites that would have replaced all other power sources by the year 2000! Really, it's incredible, but even more amazing, it was entirely realistic and even expected until the Challenger exploded in the early eighties.

Read the book in 1978, it was used as a textbook in my senior political science class, we were developing a socio-political system for space colonists. Excellent book with some great black/white photos. The original of space colonization books

Will we ever colonize space? God, I hope so, and if and when we do, I'd like to be one of those colonists. Mr. Heppenheimer gives us a possible overview of possible human settlements in space. With an introduction written by Ray Bradbury, one of the greatest SF authors of all time, and quotes by the late Carl Sagan and other great science fiction authors like the late Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, we see an idea of space colonies and how they would have developed if the Nixon Administration hadn't been so quick to slash NASA's budget and hold a fire sale selling off everything except for Skylab, (which came down twenty years ago), and the Space Shuttle. Girard K. O'Neill, a Princeton physics professor, had proposed that colonies be placed in orbit around the moon in the L-5 Zone. If we weren't so short- sighted in 1971, we would have had a base on the moon right now, we would have had space colonies in orbit around the moon right now, we would have had nuclear spaceships by now, we would have had a manned mission to Mars, RIGHT NOW. But N00000! We had to slash the NASA budget in 1971. Why? to save a few billion dollars. We can't afford to save a few billion dollars. Not even a few TRILLION dollars. With space exploration, the sky's literally the limit. Space stations first, planetary colonies second, interstellar colonies, when we figure out how, third. Earth's the cradle of our civilization. A baby can't spend its entire life in a cradle. Neither can we.