Portal:Space

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Introduction

Space, (or outer space), describes the vaste empty regions between planets and stars. The study of these, and other, astronomical objects is called Astronomy and is one of the oldest sciences. It is often said that space exploration began with the launch of Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth. Then, in an almost unbelievable feat of human achievement, in 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin travelled to the Moon and set foot on the surface during the Apollo 11 mission. Recently, it has become clear that space colonization will no longer be for science-fiction stories, and many issues surrounding space have come to light including commercial spaceflight, space laws and space weapons.

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Space colonization, also called space settlement and space humanization, is the concept of permanent autonomous (self-sufficient) human habitation of locations outside Earth. The first step is the permanent human presence in space, as with the International Space Station.

Artist's conception of a space habitat called the Stanford torus, by Don Davis

It is a major theme in former science fiction and nowadays science.

While most people think of space colonies on the Moon or Mars, others argue that the first colonies will be in orbit (see International Space Station). Several design groups at NASA and elsewhere have examined orbital colony feasibility. They have determined that there are ample quantities of all the necessary materials on the Moon and Near Earth Asteroids, that solar energy is readily available in very large quantities, and that no new scientific breakthroughs are necessary, although a great deal of engineering would be required.

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