ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the possibilities for constructing spacecraft and propulsion systems that are capable of travelling to the stars. It also looks at some of the proposed ways of mounting manned expeditions outside our solar system. The chapter discusses methods that might be used to send a manned expedition to another star. Robert Forward is one of the primary gurus of laser-propelled missions to the stars. When antimatter was first being studied by physicists, science fiction authors took various liberties with its properties to produce convenient ways of moving between the stars. Gerard O'Neil has considered the construction of a space colony in permanent orbit in our solar system, a design that could easily be adapted to a colony ship powered by an antimatter drive. The idea behind Orion was to provide an effective means of transporting people and materials about the solar system.
