View source for Space stations and habitats in fiction

{{Short description|Fictional depictions of space stations and habitats in fiction}}
{{Redirect|Starbase}}
[[File:The Brick Moon from NASA archive.jpg |thumb |upright |"[[The Brick Moon]]" – an 1869 serial by [[Edward Everett Hale]] – was the first fictional space station or habitat<!-- variously described as a station or habitat by different sources -->.]]
The concepts of [[Space station|space stations]] and [[space habitat]]s feature in [[science fiction]]. The difference between the two is that habitats are larger and more complex structures intended as permanent homes for substantial populations (though [[generation ship]]s also fit this description, they are usually not considered space habitats as they are heading for a destination<ref name="GreenwoodHabitats" />), but the line between the two is fuzzy with significant overlap and the term space station is sometimes used for both concepts.<ref name="SFEStations">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2022 |title=Space Stations |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/space_stations |access-date=2023-12-29 |edition=4th |author1-last=Nicholls |author1-first=Peter |author1-link=Peter Nicholls (writer) |author2-last=Langford |author2-first=David |author2-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="SFEHabitats" /> The first such artificial satellite in fiction was [[Edward Everett Hale]]'s "[[The Brick Moon]]" in 1869,<ref name="SFEStations" /><ref name="Stableford">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |title=[[Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia]] |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-97460-8 |pages=35–37 |language=en |chapter=Artificial satellite |author-link=Brian Stableford |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&pg=PA35}}</ref> a sphere of bricks 61 meters across accidentally launched into orbit around the Earth with people still onboard.<ref name="GreenwoodHabitats" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fries |first1=Sylvia Doughty |last2=Ordway |first2=Frederick I. III |author-link2=Frederick I. Ordway III |date=1987-06-01 |title=The Space Station From Concept to Evolving Reality |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/isr.1987.12.2.143 |journal=Interdisciplinary Science Reviews |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=143–159 |doi=10.1179/isr.1987.12.2.143 |issn=0308-0188}}</ref>
== Space stations ==
Space stations started appearing frequently in science fiction works following the release of the 1949 [[popular science]] book ''[[The Conquest of Space]]'' by [[Willy Ley]], which deals with the subject.<ref name="SFEStations" /> They serve several disparate functions in different works. Among these are industry, health benefits due to low gravity, prisons, and means to observe alien worlds.<ref name="GreenwoodStations">{{Cite book |last=McKinney |first=Richard L. |title=[[The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders]] |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32952-4 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=740–742 |language=en |chapter=Space Stations |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0002unse_f3t4/page/740/mode/2up}}</ref> Several early works of the genre focused on space stations in [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]] or at [[Lagrange point]]s as relay stations for interplanetary communication or transportation.<ref name="SFEStations" /> Military uses for space stations appear, but being portrayed as a direct threat is comparatively rare.<ref name="SFEStations" /><ref name="GreenwoodStations" /> Occasionally, the space stations are connected to the planet they are orbiting via a [[space elevator]], a concept which was introduced to science fiction separately by [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[Charles Sheffield]] in 1979.<ref name="GreenwoodStations" /> In fiction, space stations were largely superseded by space habitats in the final quarter of the 20th century.<ref name="SFEStations" />
== Space habitats ==
The first fictional space habitat proper (not counting the unintentional one in "The Brick Moon") was featured in the 1931 novella "[[The Prince of Space]]" by [[Jack Williamson]];<ref name="GreenwoodHabitats" /> it is a cylinder {{Convert|1520|m|ft|-2}} long and wide which rotates to create [[artificial gravity]].<ref name="Baxter">{{Cite book |last=Baxter |first=Stephen |chapter=Dreams and Nightmares of the High Frontier: The Response of Science Fiction to Gerard K. O'Neill's ''The High Frontier'' |date=2016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vz-8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |title=The Ethics of Space Exploration |pages=15–30 |editor-last=Schwartz |editor-first=James S.J. |series=Space and Society |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_2 |isbn=978-3-319-39827-3 |s2cid=148314207 |author-link=Stephen Baxter (author) |editor2-last=Milligan |editor2-first=Tony}}</ref>
Besides cylinders, space habitats in fiction also come in the shapes of spheres, wheels, and hollowed-out asteroids, among others. A more unusual depiction is seen in [[James Blish]]'s 1955 book ''Earthman, Come Home''—as well as the rest of his ''[[Cities in Flight]]'' series—where they are cities roaming through space.<ref name="GreenwoodHabitats">{{Cite book |last=McKinney |first=Richard L. |title=[[The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders]] |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32952-4 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=736–738 |language=en |chapter=Space Habitats |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0002unse_f3t4/page/736/mode/2up}}</ref>
Space habitats featured only intermittently in science fiction until 1977, when [[Gerard K. O'Neill]]'s [[speculative nonfiction]] book ''[[The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space]]'' was published and went on to inspire numerous authors.<ref name="SFEHabitats">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2021<!-- 16 April --> |title=Space Habitats |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/space_habitats |access-date=2021-08-06 |edition=4th |author1-last=Nicholls |author1-first=Peter |author1-link=Peter Nicholls (writer) |author2-last=Langford |author2-first=David |author2-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref name="Stableford" /><ref name="Baxter" /> The works inspired by O'Neill range from [[Utopian and dystopian fiction|utopian to dystopian]]; the latter foresee a wide variety of problems with space habitats, including dilapidation while humans are still living there, vulnerability to sabotage, and the potential for a wealthy elite in space to exploit the inhabitants of Earth.<ref name="Baxter" />
A recurring theme in these works is tensions between the inhabitants of the habitats and planet-dwellers.<ref name="GreenwoodHabitats" /> Inasmuch as they provide opportunities for telling stories of isolated populations with diverse cultures, space habitats serve the same function in space that islands serve on Earth in earlier [[speculative fiction]],<ref name="SFEHabitats" /> though some science fiction works such as the TV series ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' and ''[[Babylon 5]]'' take the opposite approach of portraying space habitats as multicultural centres where members of different spacefaring civilizations coexist peacefully.<ref name="Baxter" />
==See also==
* [[Dyson spheres in popular culture]]
*[[List of films featuring space stations]]
* [[List of fictional spacecraft]]
* [[Space dock]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Benford |first1=Gregory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7hZAAAAMAAJ |title=Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science |last2=Zebrowski |first2=George |date=2000 |publisher=Harcourt |isbn=978-0-15-100292-4 |language=en |author-link=Gregory Benford |author-link2=George Zebrowski}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: The Definitive Illustrated Guide |date=1996 |publisher=Carlton |isbn=1-85868-188-X |editor-last=Pringle |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Pringle |pages=50 |language=en |chapter=Space Habitats |oclc=38373691 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateencyclop0000unse_a8c7/page/50/mode/2up}}
* {{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link=<!-- No article at present (July 2024); Stanway is an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick who has been published in [[Foundation (journal)]], among others (see https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction); Wikidata Q127710708 --> |date=2022-07-24 |title=High Frontiers |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/high_frontiers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321052128/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/high_frontiers/ |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=[[Warwick University]] |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}
* {{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Westfahl |title=Mindscapes: The Geographies of Imagined Worlds |date=1989 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=978-0-8093-1454-6 |editor-last=Slusser |editor-first=George E. |editor-link=George Edgar Slusser |pages=211–225 |language=en |chapter=Islands in the Sky: Space Stations in the Universe of Science Fiction |editor-last2=Rabkin |editor-first2=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbDRcXMmNYYC&pg=PA211}}
* {{Cite book|last=Westfahl|first=Gary|title=Islands in the Sky: The Space Station Theme in Science Fiction Literature|year=1996|isbn=978-0-89370-307-3|location=[[Borgo Press]]|author-link=Gary Westfahl}}
*{{Cite book|last=Westfahl|first=Gary|title=The Other Side of the Sky: An Annotated Bibliography of Space Stations in Science Fiction, 1869-1993|date=2009|publisher=[[Borgo Press]]|isbn=978-1-4344-5749-3|language=en|author-link=Gary Westfahl}}
*{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8659-2 |pages=129–133 |language=en |chapter=Space Stations: Space Stations, in Fact and Fiction |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7WREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129}}
{{portalbar|Science fiction}}
{{fictional transportation navbox}}
{{Science fiction}}
{{Space stations|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Stations And Habitats In Popular Culture}}
[[Category:Science in popular culture]]
[[Category:Science fiction themes]]
[[Category:Fictional spacecraft by type|Space stations]]
[[Category:Fictional space stations| ]]