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Nearly fifty years have passed since the birth of human spaceflight. In that time, hundreds of humans have traveled to Earth orbit as astronauts, cosmonauts, politicians or fare-paying tourists. Twelve astronauts have voyaged to the moon and worked on its surface. The first determined step towards the permanent settlement of space has been taken with the International Space Station. Three countries now have independent and successful human spaceflight capabilities. Several private companies are developing tourist spacecraft. Numerous nations own satellites in orbit and use space as a means of communication and information exchange on a daily basis. The spin-off benefits of space research in fields such as health and energy are significant with many positive contributions to the quality of life on Earth.

Architects and industrial designers are now fully involved in the world of space.

The active participation of architects and industrial designers in space dates from the days of NASA’s SKYLAB orbiting laboratory in 1968 when, over objections from engineers, industrial designer Raymond Loewy persuaded NASA to include a window in the module so the astronauts could see out and observe the Earth. Space architecture was born in the early 1980s with a handful of architects and designers working on the Space Station. Today, a growing international community of architects and industrial designers is at work across the space field. It is involved in all areas of space project and mission development including robotic rover and probe design, lunar and Mars base design, launch facilities planning and construction, mission payload definition and management, underwater and simulated microgravity testing, systems engineering, space mission control support and extreme Earth environment habitat design and construction.