ABSTRACT
In the Macroindustrial Era, the species will obliterate the restraints on human growth and expand human capabilities to a degree never before achieved. Nothing better personifies this process than humanity's exploration and eventual mastery of outer space. Humanity will move to an entirely new plateau in the development of space exploration in the Macroindustrial Era. As soon as humanity began to engage in space travel and exploration, it transformed its home into Spacebase Earth, a launching pad for the extension of the species into other worlds. Politicians and NASA officials view such an endeavor as one that requires international cooperation. The commercial space endeavor is now a thriving, vibrant international enterprise. The American shuttle program, featuring such colorfully named craft as Endeavor, Discovery, and Columbia, which garnered the lions' share of press and public attention in the 1980s, in part serves these commercial needs. The European Space Agency is increasingly looking to the American shuttle program for technological assistance.
