Final Frontiers? Envisioning Utopia in the Era of Limits

Abstract

The history of human space travel is a story about overcoming the limitations that confined us to planet Earth. This volume’s contributions bring to light how new limits to the goal of human spaceflight emerged in the 1970s as societies across the globe became increasingly concerned about environmental impacts, economic inequities and political instabilities. This epilogue shows how the grand expectations and celebrations of outer space accomplishments in the 1960s gave way to a growing awareness of the problems facing humanity on earth in the 1970s and the inability of space exploration to solve these problems. Ultimately, it argues that it is impossible for humanity to overcome its limitations by transcending island Earth, because we will always bring our earthly problems with us.