Amazing 1970s Space Colony Concept Drawings

Space.com has a collection of awesome and highly optimistic renderings of space colonies, as seen from the 1970s.

Can you imagine a fully-fledged farm in space? Now, this was post-moon landing, and the sense of conquering space seemed more plausible than it does today. The designs showcase an absolute belief that humanity could create anything, including these staggeringly huge spacecraft, which had whole towns and countrysides inside them.

We’ve seen only a few of these in pop culture, most notably in Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, featuring a floating space colony, called a Stanford Torus, circa 2154.

Take a look at these beautiful and highly optimistic designs, which would present an unimaginably unique life in space.

An artistic rendering of a futuristic space colony with green landscapes, houses, and people enjoying outdoor activities under a large circular structure resembling a Stanford Torus.

An artist’s depiction of the interior view of Bernal Spheres colony, including human powered flight, from space colony summer studies conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s.

A vibrant and optimistic artistic rendering of a futuristic space colony, showcasing lush greenery, modern architecture, and a vast open environment within a circular habitat in space.

An artist’s depiction of the cutaway view, exposing the interior from space colony summer studies conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s.

In the 1970s, scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center conducted three different studies into how humanity might build colossal space colonies in the form of giant stations. See the wild ideas put to form in these vintage NASA artist illustrations.