The expansion of our civilization to the Moon and beyond is now within our reach, technically, intellectually and financially. Apollo was not our last foray into the Solar System and already science fiction is finding it difficult to keep ahead of science and engineering fact. In 1807, few people anticipated the Wright Brothers' human flight a hundred years later. In 1869, only science fiction writers would have suggested landing people on the Moon in 1969. Similarly, other great inventions in mechanics and in electronics were not envisaged and therefore the technologies to which those inventions gave birth were only foreseen by a tiny group of visionaries.

Our continued prosperity and survival as species will in part depend upon space exploration and manned settlement. This will provide resources for our industrial societies and create new opportunities and markets. This book is a journey into our potential future, as several nations today begin seriously to plan and build up their capabilites for manned space flight and settlement on the Moon and Mars.