Space Colony Art from the 1970s

A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made.

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Cylindrical Colonies

Exterior view of a double cylinder colony
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AC75-1085

Exterior view of several two-cylinder colonies
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AC75-1921

Interior view including looking through large windows
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AC75-1086

Interior view with long suspension bridge
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AC75-1883

Interior featuring clouds and vegetation
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AC75-1920

Toroidal Colonies

Exterior View
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AC76-0492.1

Cutaway view, exposing the interior
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AC75-1086-1

Exterior view of several neighboring colonies
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AC76-0525

Interior view
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AC75-2621

Part of the rim including many nearby space vehicles
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AC75-1886

Bernal Spheres

The Bernal Sphere is a point design with a sphere living area.

Exterior view
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AC76-0965

Photograph of a model of the Bernal Sphere
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AC76-0852

View with cutaway to see interior
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AC76-1089

Interior including human powered airplane
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AC76-0628

View of Bernal Sphere agricultural module (multiple toroids) with cutaway to expose interior
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AC78-0330-4

Colony construction crew at work
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AC76-1288

Please credit photos to NASA Ames Research Center

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Author: Bryan Yager

Curator: Al Globus
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