On this tour you will be guided through the different aspects of building space stations, as well as the many theories surrounding the placement of permanent human colonies in space. To begin the tour click the 'start the tour' link. Or you can choose to view a specific topic that interests you by clicking on 'go' below the topic that you wish to view. In this section you will read about a few of the fictitious ideas surrounding living in space in the form of literature, movies, and television series. You will also learn about theories on how space stations should be designed and how one scientist thinks a station should be powered. Finally, you will read about some of the realities that different countries have made in space exploration and habitation. This section explores theories on where people could obtain resources in space and how to transport these resources in a faster and more efficient way. Ideas on how to utilize the sun's "free energy" is also discussed. You will also learn how a microgravity environment will aid in scientific research in many ways, such as, growing bigger and better protein crystals faster and the effects that microgravity has on the human body. Lastly, this section will cover the ability to explore space and monitor any potentially threatening near-earth asteroids easier due to the location of a space station. In this section you will read about the different countries and organizations joining together to build ISS. You will learn the history of these countries and their past contributions that they have made in space exploration. You will also see what each country is currently providing in the construction of this space station. This section gives many ideas for how ISS will function by using examples from past experiments for example, Biosphere 2, greenhouses, solar energy and centrifuges. You will read and may be able to decide for yourself based on the information presented if the research gained from the past would work in space and provide for a healthy and realistic environment. Reading this section, you will be able to see the controversial debate of where to locate ISS. Should it be in one the stable lagrangian points of the earth-moon system? Some might think so. Or should we place the space station in geosynchronous orbit that has its advantages also? This section allows for the viewer to have their opinions while reading information and history of past experiments.