Colonies in Space [Paperback]

T.A. Heppenheimer (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Warner Books (February 1980)
• ISBN-10: 0446955590
• ISBN-13: 978-0446955591
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outlines the technical blueprints for space colony construct, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Colonies in Space (Hardcover)

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

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very good book, May 15, 2002

By 

"bobertxox" (Southern CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colonies in Space (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An overview of possible human settlements in space, July 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Colonies in Space (Paperback)

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.