Space stations in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (January 2007)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2007)

Space stations are an important element in popular culture.

[edit] The classic wheel space station design

Images of the space station in popular culture are generally based on the wheel space station proposed in the 1950s by rocket scientist Willy Ley:

• The Willy Ley/Chesley Bonestell space station design of 1953 was a 250 ft diameter, 3-deck wheel that revolved at 3 RPM to provide artificial one-third gravity. It was envisaged as having a crew of 80.^[1]

[edit] Space stations in science fiction

A large amount of science fiction is set on space stations:

• The Death Star and the Death Star II from the Star Wars series.
• Venus Equilateral Relay Station, from the 1940s Venus Equilateral series by George O. Smith, was a communications hub set in Venus' L₄ point.
• Mystery in Space, a popular science fiction comic book of the 1950s, often depicted wheel shaped space stations in its stories.
• The Star Trek series has several types of stations. Federation Deep Space Station K-7 was featured in a planetary dispute and Earth Station McKinley and the massive Federation Spacedocks acted as a shipbuilding/repair facility. "Jupiter Station" was a research and development facility, where Lewis Zimmerman was based. K-7 represents a different order of station -- it does not orbit a planetary body but, rather, is located in a "convenient" point in space which lacks a planetary body to form a nexus for trade and communications.
  • The series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is set on a space station, Deep Space 9, built by the Cardassians around Bajor and later staffed by Federation personnel. Initially it appears to have been an ore-processing station, as well as a control point for the Cardassian occupying garrison. However, under the federation, the station is moved from close planetary orbit to a more distant location, in order to observe and garrison the mouth of the Gamma Quadrant wormhole.
• In Stargate Atlantis, a "stargate bridge" links the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. Because there are differences between the Milky Way and Pegasus Stargates, there is a space station linking the two systems at the midpoint. As of the episode The Return, the space station is incomplete and is, in fact, little more than a wire frame holding two Stargates. As of the season 4 premiere Adrift, the Midway Station is externally completed and going online. Later in Season 4, the episode Midway focused on the station, however it was destroyed at the end of the episode.
• The film (and novel) 2001: A Space Odyssey has Space Station 5, built as an 1836 ft partially completed double ring, revolving to produce one-sixth gravity; this has proven to be one of the iconic images of a space station in popular culture.
• In the Disney movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, the story takes place on a space station. The second and third installment of the series take place at the same location.
• The James Bond film Moonraker featured a space station which serves as Hugo Drax's lair and a base to attack earth using poison plants.
• The Babylon 5 television series is set on a space station by that name in the years of 2258-2262. The station orbits a planet (Eridani 3) but is generally treated as though sited in deep space, as a neutral meeting point for the various races with which the Earth Government is trying to have friendly relations.
• The space station ISPV-7 serves as the base for the recovery ship DS-12 "Toybox" in the anime series Planetes.
• In the Gundam series of anime, most of the human race lives in space stations.
• In the fictional book series, Outlanders, one of the books is set on a station called Parallax Red located at one of the Lagrangian points, that was supposedly launched by the United States in the 90s'.
• In the Command & Conquer series, the GDI faction has most of their command staff on a space station named Philadelphia.
• The 1986 film SpaceCamp features a space station called "Daedalus." Its design was reminiscent of early proposals for Space Station Freedom.
• In the space role-playing game EVE Online, most actions besides mining, traveling and combat take place in space stations orbiting moons and/or planets.

[edit] References