History Main / SpaceStation

* ISS[[note]]International Space Station[[/note]] (1998–present): Biggest one yet built. Consists of components from the planned Russian station Mir-2 (Zarya FGB and Zvezda Service Module (DOS-8)) and American station Freedom (Integrated Truss Structure), as well as modules from space agencies in [[UsefulNotes/{{JAXA}} Japan]], [[UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} Europe]], and elsewhere. There's [[http://heavens-above.com/ a website]] tracking its current location over Earth.

* In ''Film/{{Rubikon}}'' is the eponymous space station in a ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts plot. It's actually what used to be the ISS.

* Every system in ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'' has a local space station resembling a brightly-coloured geometric shape, which serves as an interplanetary shipyard, upgrading station and trading post for players and {{NPC}}s alike; along with being able to buy and sell resources players might find on nearby worlds, players can also buy fuel or upgrades for their CoolStarship and Environmental Suit here or quickly teleport to a station in any previously visited system. They can also be shot at, which can decrease their rating and affect the quality of goods found there (though they can't be destroyed--every system must have a station), however doing so will result in the station siccing the SpacePolice on you. Even in completely abandoned systems you can find a derelict station still in good enough shape to offer basic services without any workers.

** With an Ascenion Perk you can construct orbital Habitats, which cost far more resources and time to build than normal space stations, but which can then be settled and support a larger population than most planets. Their building options are more limited than planets, but since ''Stellaris'' counts star systems, not individual colonies, when it comes to the cap on directly-controlled worlds, constructing Habitats over every planet possible is great for building a "tall" empire.

** Another Ascension Perk, "Galactic Wonders," lets you build even bigger constructions, from a Science Nexus that provides unparalleled research output, to a Sentry Array that when fully upgraded allows you to see everything in the galaxy, or even megastructures like {{Ring World|Planet}}s and {{Dyson Sphere}}s.

* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' and the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' continuity feature space stations used for everything from shipyards and defense platforms to casinos. A great many of them end up in little bitty pieces by the end of whatever work they appear in...

Real-world space stations have existed [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace since 1971]] (Salyut 1) and four of them -- the International Space Station, Tiangong-2 and Genesis I & II (both unmanned) -- are currently in orbit. These are all much smaller than what one is used to in sci-fi shows. The list for the interested can be seen below.

* Tiangong-1[[note]]"Heavenly Palace 1"[[/note]] (2011-2018): Launched by China, it was a testbed for the Chinese space program to develop their docking and rendezvous capabilities. The station was visited by two manned missions in 2012 and 2013, and more elaborate stations (Tiangong-2, Chinese large modular space station) are scheduled to be launched in the near future. A Tiangong-3 was planned but later merged with Tiangong-2 and was scrapped. Tiangong-2 was launched in 2016 but deorbited in 2019.

* Space lab: A sort of pseudo space station in the vain of the Manned Orbital Laboratory and a collaboration between NASA and the ESA. A modular experiment system where, often, a pressurized lab would be held in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay along with various external experiments. After about twenty days orbiting and research, the shuttle would close it's cargo bay and return to earth. One of these missions notably docked with the Mir space station as a temporary fitness lab.

* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', you can have bases with Aerospace Complexes launch three kinds of space station once you have the requisite technology:

* In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield made the first ever {{music video|s}} in space oboard the ISS, a cover of Music/DavidBowie's "Music/SpaceOddity".

* Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield made the first ever {{music video|s}} in space oboard the ISS, a cover of Music/DavidBowie's "Music/SpaceOddity".

* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' has the Gutsy Galaxy Guard (3G) Orbit Base used during the second half of the show [[spoiler: after the 31 Machine Primevals destroyed their UnderwaterBase.]]
* The main cast of ''Manga/{{Planetes}}'' operate out of a space station in low-Earth orbit.

* ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'': The Abh tend to live almost exclusively on space stations, only visiting planetary surfaces when its absolutely necessary. This fits with their view of themselves; their society's name in their language means "Kin of the Stars", and they consider space to be their "homeland". Their capital Lakfakalle is a gigantic swarm of huge spacestations orbiting a star in a system with no habitable worlds.
* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' features the Zentraedi Factory Satellite, a gigantic automated factory for the guns, ships and battlepods of the Zentraedi, with every Zentraedi main fleet having about twenty, and completely necessary for the Zentraedi continual survival due their inability to build and repair ships anything by themselves (the {{P|recursors}}rotoculture, who created the Zentraedi as their [[SlaveMooks slave soldiers]], made sure they wouldn't have these abilities as an additional way to control them. [[SlaveLiberation It failed]], but they ''still'' haven't learned how to repair and build things by themselves). [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross The original series]] shows the UN Spacy hijacking one of the defeated Bodol Main Fleet, with expanded universe material adding they actually hijacked the whole set and that human emigration fleets will do the same to any satellite they stumble upon.

* Being born from the fusion of ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' with two other series, ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' also has the Zentraedi Factory Satellite (through renamed as the ''Robotech'' Factory Satellite. Also, there's apparently only one here). Original to the series we have Space Station Liberty (first mentioned in the series but only shown in ''WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles''), a former Zentraedi military base that Earth forces captured and towed in the Sol system.
** The now non-canon comics also feature the Robotech Refinery Satellite ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a refinery for monopole ore orbiting the planet Fantoma]]) and Space Station V (an Invid base).
* In ''Manga/MoonlightMile'', an expanded version of the International Space Station is shown, with more modules and solar panels. The ''Galileo'' is essentially a mobile space station that travels between Earth and the Moon. [[spoiler: The US military secretly has an even larger space station called "Enterprise," and China launches its own smaller station late in Season 2.]]

** Many of them, surprisingly, have built by ''ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'', including:
*** Multiple versions of his space station, 'Asteroid M', all of which tend to be absolutely enormous - as in, the remains of the original were turned into Utopia, the X-Men's island haven in the late 00s/early New 10s, and it was far from the largest.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel1977'' has Droid World, an enormous space station overseen by a cyborg named Kligson, which was home to countless droids who wanted nothing to do with the organic races of the galaxy.

* [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Doom Satellite]] from ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Magneto's base of Asteroid M/Avalon (it's referred to by both names, usually the former to avoid confusion with the extradimensional realm of Avalon). It's absolutely enormous, being confirmed to be at least 3/4 the size of Hogwarts, modular (which means that Magneto can and does rearrange it as he wishes), and more or less entirely of Magneto's own construction, via asteroid mining - though as he notes, he got a second opinion from Mar-Vell on the designs, as well as help with more complex systems like life-support and artificial gravity. Transport is usually via teleporter, and it doesn't have many permanent residents, with the only named examples being Amelia Voght (the teleporter and medic), Piotr Rasputin a.k.a. Colossus (present because he prefers quiet and solitude), and Ruth Aldine a.k.a. Blindfold, whose nature as a mildly MadOracle (to begin with) led to Magneto taking her in as his ward.
* ''Fanfic/TopOfTheLineEditorBug'': Tak took over an abandoned one of these prior to ''The Rematch'' in order to use as an arena for her rematch with Zim, intending to strand him there after she wins. [[spoiler: It turns out to be the vessel for the [[AIIsACrapshoot genocidal AI]] Space Case, which turns it into a death trap when reactivated.]]

* The wheel-like Station Five seen in the opening space scenes of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' is perhaps the most famous of all sci-fi movie space stations.
* The [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU]] and ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' are absolutely in love with space stations, using them for everything from shipyards and defense platforms to casinos. A great many of them end up in little bitty pieces by the end of whatever work they appear in...
* ''Film/ProjectMoonbase'' (1953) had the protagonists stop off at a US military space station on the way to the moon. We see people walking along the corridors upside down past people going the other way due to its variable ArtificialGravity.
* ''Film/ConquestOfSpace'' (George Pal's 1955 sci-fi flop after his previous blockbusters ''Film/DestinationMoon'' and ''Film/WhenWorldsCollide'') has The Wheel, whose design was taken from the famous illustrated book of that name. It's the first thing seen in the movie.
-->'''TheNarrator:''' This is a story of tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, when men have built a station in space, constructed in the form of a great wheel, and set a thousand miles out from the Earth, fixed by gravity, and turning about the world every two hours, serving a double purpose: an observation post in the heavens, and a place where a spaceship can be assembled, and then launched to explore other planets, and the vast universe itself, in the last and greatest adventure of mankind, the plunge toward the... ''[[TitleDrop CONQUEST OF SPACE!]]''

* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Saturn 3}}'' one of the characters leaves a space station also featuring people walking on the floor and ceiling.
* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' is a man-made installation orbiting Earth, where the privileged of humanity live apart from the destitute masses.
* Fleet Battlestation ''Ticonderoga'' in ''Film/StarshipTroopers''. It serves as a staging point for the Federation invasion of Klendathu and background material indicates it is FTL-capable.
* The ''Yorktown'' in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', a veritable city in space, surrounded by a bubble. While everyone is impressed by the feat of engineering, [=McCoy=]'s reaction is to compare it to a snowglobe that's about to break. He points out that it would've made far better sense to [[BoringButPractical just rent out space on a planet instead]]. Spock says the decision was political: TheFederation didn't want to show favoritism to any particular member planet, so they put it in deep space.
* The introduction to ''Film/ValerianAndTheCityOfAThousandPlanets'' shows the [[ProgressiveEraMontage evolution]] of a space station into the eponymous city in space, and its role as a diplomatic nexus first for [[NationsOfTheWorldMontage human races]], then [[FirstContact alien ones]].
* The made-for-TV ''Film/EpochEvolution'' starts with a Chinese GeneralRipper launching three nukes to destroy the American station, whose purpose is to destroy ballistic nukes with lasers. The station personnel manages to destroy two of the nukes far enough away, but a Chinese satellite jams the third laser turret, preventing a lock until the nuke is too close. It's still destroyed, but the blast wave destroys the station as well.
* The {{camp}} BMovie ''Film/QueenOfOuterSpace'' has the unimaginatively named Space Station A being destroyed by a DeathRay from the planet Venus! It forms the classic wheel design, is shown spinning fast enough to give everyone on board space sickness, and took 22 years to build from the moment the first man stepped into space in the far-future of 1963.
* ''Film/MutinyInOuterSpace'' (1965). The mutiny takes place on Space Station X-7 (a classic wheel design), which has become contaminated by an alien fungus.
* The 2014 comedy ''Film/SpaceStation76'' is a StepfordSuburbia InSpace. The station has a ''Series/Space1999'' {{Retraux}} look about it.
* There's a [[SovietSuperscience toroid space station]] in the 1957 Soviet movie ''Road to the Stars''.

* OlderThanTelevision: The Martians in the novel ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("Two Planets", 1897, incomplete English edition 1971) by German science-fiction pioneer [[Creator/KurdLasswitz Kurd Laßwitz]] have a circular space station (diameter: 320 metres) above Earth. It is not in orbit, but suspended in space above the North Pole, where they installed an anti-gravity device.
* Wernher von Braun, a fan of Laßwitz', wrote a short story obviously inspired by the opening of ''Auf zwei Planeten'', about members of an Arctic expedition being rescued and taken to a space station. The story, ''Lunetta'', was printed in 1930 in the school magazine of the Hermann-Lietz-Schule, which the 17-to-18-year old Braun attended. The titular station ("Lunetta" = "small moon") is among other things used for weather control, using a giant mirror.
* The Scorpion Star in ''Literature/TheLordOfOpium''. [[spoiler:Revealed to be controlling the eeijts in Opium. Matt later destroys it, along with the 300 people aboard.]]

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold:
** Most of the action of ''Literature/EthanOfAthos'' takes place on Kline Station.
** A significant portion of the action of ''Literature/TheVorGame'' takes place on a station in the Hegen Hub.
** A significant portion of the action of ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'' takes place on a station near the wormhole connecting Barrayar and Komarr.
* The Battle School in ''Literature/EndersGame'': The gravity was said to be provided by rotation, leaving the hub in the middle with no gravity, allowing them to have their battles in weightlessness. [[spoiler:However at least one character points out that this explanation doesn't actually add up based on how the battlerooms are actually hooked up. It's made explicit in ''Literature/EndersShadow'' that they actually have gravity-manipulation technology that they reverse engineered from the "dead" Bugger ships in the second Bugger War, although that part ends up being {{Ret Con}}ned in the prequels, where ArtificialGravity turns out to be a purely human technology that Buggers/Formics don't even have.]] The station is later renamed Literature/FleetSchool and is used to train future colony leaders and scout ship commanders, a wholly different skill set than for fleet commanders. It's also exclusive to children of IF officers and enlisted.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** Centerpoint Station is a station larger than the Death Star which is at the midpoint between two worlds that revolve around each other in the Corellian system. No one knows who built it or how. The ''Corellian Trilogy'' involves it, a place inside it called Hollowtown, and the fact that a superweapon was built into it, with the ability to destroy distant stars.
** It returns briefly in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', when someone tries to use it to fire at Vong worldships but misses and hits some allies. And then they refuse to use it again.
** A considerable part of ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' is about the Corellians, trying to secede from the Galactic Federation of Free Worlds, commanding Centerpoint Station, which is destroyed eventually.
** ... which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero might have been a mistake]], since in ''Literature/FateOfTheJedi'' it appears to have caged an EldritchAbomination. [[note]]More specifically, a similar but smaller station was used to actually cage the Eldritch Abomination. Centerpoint was intended to be a cannon pointed at the cage, to be fired if the Lovecraftian creature escaped.[[/note]] Making Centerpoint a combination of superweapon, [[SealedEvilInACan can of evil]], and place for a few thousand people to live and grow food.
* The 1950's sci-fi juvenile ''Islands in the Sky'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke is about a teenager who wins a trip to the Inner Station, a manned satellite in low-earth orbit used for repairing and refueling spacecraft. Clarke was famous for predicting the use of artificial satellites for telecommunication (though his were manned).
* Several space stations are featured in ''Literature/HonorHarrington''. The one that gets focused upon most often is HMSS ''Hephaestus'', a massive space station that is also the primary dockyard for the Royal Manticoran Navy.

** ''On Basilisk Station'' is incorrectly translated into Russian as ''Space Station "Basilisk"'', even though there isn't an actual space station of that name in the novel, and the name refers to a posting in the Basilisk System (i.e. Honor is ''stationed'' there). Although there ''is'' a sort of space station, in the form of a large connected mass of orbiting warehouses and docking equipment used for Baselisk's important role as a hub in Manticore's vast trade network. [[spoiler: This gets destroyed during a battle with the Havenites, but is rebuilt later.]]
** The ''Wages of Sin'' series featured a number of unusual space stations. First an orbiting casino complex in the book ''Crown of Slaves'' called The Wages of Sin orbiting the planet Erewhon, and the next book ''Torch of Freedom'', features Parmley Station, a giant amusement park in space that mostly served to impoverish the family of its founder, who generations later still live there, unable to afford to leave. Parmley Station is used as a base for slavers until it is captured by Beowulfian forces, who use it as a base for their anti-slaver operations (to include being SchmuckBait for any Slavers unfortunate enough to still think it's safe haven).
* ''Willy Ley'' wrote several books aimed at children describing and illustrating space stations, complete with tug vessels to help large space ships dock.
* The semi-fiction futurist writings of Gerard O'Neill from the seventies and eighties, especially ''Literature/TheHighFrontier''. All the technologies outlined in the books are based on theory and designs from real academics. O'Neill is often credited for inventing these types of designs; he did not.
* The ''Literature/StarTrekStargazer'' novels introduce the ''Oblivion'', or rather the ''Obl'viaan'' in the original Ubarrak. It's an enormous construction in orbit of a lifeless planet, consisting of hundreds (if not thousands) of ships and stations welded together. In fact, it's not so much a space station as a space city. It is definitely of a WretchedHive variety. It's also the place where Picard first meets Guinan, although she's a little upset he doesn't know who she is (she's also still suffering from [[Film/StarTrekGenerations Nexus]] withdrawal). Naturally, the fact that it's built from numerous ships of different cultures [[ChekhovsGun proves to be important in several ways]].
* Part of Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's novel ''Literature/{{Competitors}}'' takes place on a large, disc-shaped station called the Platform or Bun. Nobody knows for sure who built the station, [[spoiler:it was the Bugs,]] but ordinary people keep getting sent there and are given enough funds to purchase a small ship and start their career in space. Occasionally, the Platform undergoes attacks by a race known only as the Bugs. No matter their clan affiliation or criminal status, all gather to defend the station.

* Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/AllianceUnion'' universe features many space stations, most of humanity's exosolar colonies are torus stations built first as research stations and later as trading posts since inhabitable planets are rare and FasterThanLightTravel wasn't developed for centuries after expansion started. Even afterwards "stationers" remain a significant cultural force due to HyperspaceLanes.
* The titular Paradyzja from the novel of Creator/JanuszZajdel is one with a {{Dystopia}} inside. [[spoiler: Except it's really on the surface of a planet, so--subverted?]]
* ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'' has Felice Station orbiting Earth, described as "the most vital port city in the solar system."
* ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' has the ''Unyielding Hierophant'', a Covenant battlestation 30-km long and over 10-km in circumference; Johnson describes it as looking like "two squids kissing". It makes a brief cameo in one of the ''VideoGame/Halo2: Anniversary'' terminals.
* ''Literature/AngelStation'' is an enormous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_torus Stanford torus,]] which serves as a hub in that part of space, although much of the novel actually takes place aboard starships. The main plot is kicked off, when the SiblingTeam (Ubu Roy and Beautiful Maria, yes those are their actual names) arrives to the titular station with a cargo of mining computers only to discover that the company that has requested them has gone bankrupt, making their contract null and void, leaving them in debt and stuck with a cargo no one wants. [[spoiler:They end up absconding with their ship and making a BlindJump, accidentally encountering a LivingShip]].
* While space stations exist in ''Literature/TheLostFleet'', it's pointed out that all they are is a huge target on a predictable path, meaning they can be safely bombarded with metallic "rocks" from a long distance away. Many [[OneNationUnderCopyright Syndic]] worlds are orbited by stations, whose job appears to be to keep the population below from rebelling. Why else would they be equipped with bombs? That said, many stations are still necessary to build and maintain ships.
* Creator/AsiHart's ''Literature/OrbitalLily'' takes place on a large spinning space-station.
* James White's ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' novels are (mostly) set aboard the eponymous galactic hospital space station.

* ''Literature/{{Helliconia}}'''s eponymous planet is observed by Terrans from the space station ''Avernus''.
* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': Space stations are common in the Hexarchate GalacticSuperpower, ranging from specialized scientific installations to the huge Nexus Fortresses, which project the BackgroundMagicField and can be mistaken for moons. Enough civilians live their lives on stations that it's not odd for someone never to have set foot on a planet.
* ''Literature/HarrowTheNinth'': The Mithraeum is a private hideout for the GodEmperor and his elite Lyctors, doubling as an ossuary for the [[DueToTheDead most honoured dead]]. The station is hidden 40 billion years away from TheEmpire in a cluster of {{Necroman|cer}}tically "flipped" stars and is only accessed through an ExtradimensionalShortcut. At the end, [[spoiler:Augustine magically drops it into TheUnderworld, where it's torn apart by angry ghosts.]]
* ''Literature/DungeonEngineer'': As the story's description says:
--> Ike was a hobbyist clockmaker and former aerospace engineer enjoying his retirement on a habitat station orbiting Saturn. Unfortunately, his hard-earned peace was disturbed by a rapid decompression event and his resulting death.
[[/folder]]

* Britannia Seven from the poorly-regarded '70's sitcom ''Series/ComeBackMrsNoah'' is actually designed to be a StarshipLuxurious, but it looks like a classic big wheel station that gets launched into space accidentally, then placed in a parking orbit while the folks at [[MissionControl mish-con]] try to sort things out, so is played entirely like this trope. Another unsuccessful British sitcom on the same premise was ''Astronauts'', written in TheEighties by Graham Garden and Bill Oddie of ''Series/TheGoodies'' fame.
* ''Destination Space'' (1959). Pilot for a TV series that was never taken up. Involved a space station damaged by a meteorite and efforts to send a rescue mission.

* ''Earth II'' (1971). Another pilot for a never-filmed TV series about life on a large space station. The cast was led by Gary Lockwood of ''2001'' fame. The plot involved efforts to stop a nuclear weapon launched by the Chinese from reaching the station.
* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': Niska’s space complex. It was a large orbiting space station that Mal and Wash were taken to after being caught in retaliation for Mal not completing the job in “The Train Job.” Zoe scopes it when she comes to rescue the pair and though she only gets Wash, the group is able to get Mal out shortly after.

** In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', the Midway station is located [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin halfway between]] the Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxies and serves as a hub for the [=McKay=]-Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge, until the Wraith capture it and sets the station to self-destruct.
* Ingrid's space colony in ''Series/{{Starstuff}}.''

** The titular setting of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
** Also Spacedock in ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}'', and the titular starbase in the ''Literature/StarTrekVanguard'' book series.
** Plus [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Space Station K-7]], which had some trouble with Tribbles...
** Numerous space stations and starbases appear throughout the franchise, ranging from those barely big enough to dock the ''Enterprise'' to, to ones big enough to house entire fleets inside of. [[PropRecycling They mostly look the same, but at different scales and angles.]]
** Hilariously, despite the current page image and text, the very first episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' has the eponymous station move from one location to another under its own force. It's still basically stationary by ''Star Trek'' standards, since it is stuck in a single system. Somewhat justified in that many real-world space stations have maneuvering thrusters for station-keeping, and Chief O'Brien [[{{Technobabble}} treknobabbled]] his way through the rest.
** The pilot episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' starts with Voyager docked to Deep Space Nine, only to end up at the Array on the other side of the galaxy, whose sole inhabitant is the Caretaker. Unfortunately the destruction of the Array strands them there, kicking off the series premise.
* In ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', Thunderbird 5, used to monitor all the world's emergency communications. At the time, I guess no one thought an unmanned satellite could do the job. Operated by a single person, almost always Gerry Anderson's {{Unfavorite}}, John Tracy.

* Most Starports in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' have an orbital component to deal with heavier traffic and a component planetside. Aside from that there are research stations, minor outposts and the like and occasionally if the jump range is to far a space station will be built in intersteller space to allow transit.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has a few, usually referred to as Void Stations (including one called [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Delta Sigma Novem]]). Some do nothing more than transmit sensor data, while the massive orbital dockyards of Jupiter manufacture the kilometers-long ships of the Imperium.
* Not many that are mentioned in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge''. Most space ports are built into asteroids, moons or are ground based bases, as gravity (or lack of it) is less of an issue in Rocket Age due to RuleOfCool and space ships that rarely have trouble with re-entry.
* There are a number of different types of spacestations in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', but the rarest and most important is the Recharging Station, which is typically located at a star system's zenith or nadir point and uses solar sails to collect solar energy. When a visiting jumpship arrives, the Recharging Station can use a microwave emitter to recharge the jumpship's jump drive in a matter of minutes or hours instead of the ship having to wait days or weeks to recharge via passively collecting solar energy themselves. Never common to begin with, the technical information needed to construct them was lost during the Succession Wars.

* ''VideoGame/AIWarFleetCommand'' refers to them as a fortress, and they're mobile. In ''AI War 2'', the enemy AI recommends building a moat around them.
* Since ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'' often deals with Marvin the Martian, many games like ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyLostInTime'', ''VideoGame/LooneyTunesCarrotCrazy'' and ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyInDoubleTrouble'' have Bugs encounter him in his natural habitat, which is a technologically impressive but also a kind of inhospitable and ominous Martian space station.

** The ''Civilization V: Brave New World'' expansion added the International Space Station to the list of projects that can be proposed through the United Nations. It's like other "cooperative" projects in that the nation that contributes the most to it reaps the most reward from finishing it, namely an endgame boost to science and production that can help secure a Science Victory.

* In ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'', the titular interstellar mining corporation has over 80 "Space Rigs" in orbit over the DeathWorld of Hoxxes IV, serving as quarters and launching points for DropPod insertions of combat miners, and presumably storage for all the mineral wealth extracted from the planet. In-game, Space Rig 17 is the HubLevel where dwarves can interact with various terminals to select missions and assignments, customize their appearance, purchase weapon upgrades, forge cosmetic items and weapon overclocks, trade minerals for credits, honor the fallen in the Memorial Hall, get sloshed at the Abyss Bar, or drive MissionControl bonkers by kicking barrels into the Launch Bay. [[spoiler:There used to be 87 Space Rigs, but Space Rig 5 was lost during Season 4's story arc, when a [[AlienKudzu Lithophage meteor]], with [[ItCanThink uncanny aim]], smashed directly into its fusion reactor, killing all hands.]]
* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'''s expansion lets you build one as a Space Age wonder, where it gives a defense boost to spaceships. It's not really in space though, as the game has a bad case of SpaceIsAnOcean, but built on the edge of a planet.
* The main objective in ''VideoGame/EventHorizon'' is to conquer starbases of various factions all throughout the galaxy. They're all large disc-shaped structures like the page image, and those at the end of SortingAlgorithmOfEvil are armed with three turrets as well as several drones. Successfully conquering them earns you large amounts of loot, and conquered starbases offer services such as item manufacture and starship upgrade.
** In the spinoff ''Event Horizon: Frontier'' the roles are reversed, as you are defending your own starbase.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'': while depicted as a traditionally fantastic floating castle in most remakes, the Floating Fortress was originally depicted in the original NES game as a satellite orbiting the planet, with a field of stars in the background instead of clouds. This sci-fi depiction of the Fortress would be used again in ''VideoGame/StrangerOfParadiseFinalFantasyOrigin''.

* Two types of stations can be built in ''VideoGame/HaegemoniaLegionsOfIron''. Both types can move prior to deploying, at which point they are unable to be "undeployed", although the ExpansionPack fixed that. Mining bases are unarmed and position themselves over resource-rich asteroids in order to process them. Military bases can be built of different types, depending on the type of weapons you want them to have (missile, proton, ion, quantum). They cannot use weapons when mobile. They also repair friendly ships in the vicinity. The campaign also has resort and hospital stations, as well as the Darzok HQ, which must be destroyed to win the game. You also find abandoned [[{{Precursors}} Solon]] stations with active defenses.

** The opening chapter of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' puts Master Chief (you) on one of Earth's 300 enormous orbiting defense satellites, each one armed with a Super [[MagneticWeapons Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] capable of punching straight through a Covenant capital ship in one shot.
** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' has Ivanoff Station, a UNSC research facility stationed near Gamma Halo.

* The first two acts of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' take place on two different space stations. Peragus was an asteroid facility, so it may or may not count. The Star Forge from the first game, however, definitely does.

** Shepard is revived on a space station belonging to Cerberus. It's also implied that the Illusive Man's HQ is a space station.

* The final levels of the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' UsefulNotes/GameBoy series (except ''[[VideoGame/MegaManIII III]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManIV IV]]'', although the latter was actually a space battleship) take place on Space Stations; the one used in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManV V]]'' looks like it was even based on the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]]. And then, in ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', Wily builds another station that was just an extension of his castle. This one was notorious for the ''[[OverlyLongGag lengthy]]'' tracking screen on the map.

--> After humanity colonized Mars, a research station orbiting the planet conducted controversial research on the nature of life - and death.\\

* ''VideoGame/MysteriousJourneyII'' starts [[spoiler: and ends]] on one. Judging by its external features, this one seems to be built from a hollowed-out asteroid. After 214 years in [[HumanPopsicle cryonic suspension]], Sen Geder wakes up and is informed by the [[ProjectedMan hologram of a man named Tensa]], that the station's orbit has degraded so much that it will fall in 16 days, and this is to be Sen's punishment for causing the nearby planet, Saarpedon, to be stuck as a single valley. Since Sen has no memory of any of these events, [[ClearMyName it's up to him to discover the truth, and see if he really was guilty for his crimes.]]
* Every system in ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'' has one which serves as an interstellar shipyard, upgrading station and trading post for players and {{NPC}}s alike; along with being able to buy and sell resources players might find on nearby worlds, players can also buy fuel or upgrades for their CoolStarship and Environmental Suit here.
** They can also be shot at, which can decrease their rating and affect the quality of goods found there (though they can't be destroyed--every system must have a station), though doing so will result in the station siccing the SpacePolice on you.

* You spend the majority of ''VideoGame/ThePerilsOfAkumos'' aboard one. This leads to some rather odd geometry.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'': Two of the many alternate Cave Johnsons run an Aperture Science in a space station. The first is the warden of a space prison complete force field doors and [[AirVentPassageway air vents filled with the rotting corpses of previous break out attempts]]. In another universe Aperture Science relocated to an absolutely huge one comprised of dozens of large "testing spheres" joined together. Unfortunately, no one informed the thousands of test subjects in cryogenic storage of this change. Many of said subjects believe the sudden (to them) change in tests is part of a conspiracy and try to escape the facility, into the vacuum of space.

** The Sky Hydroponics Lab, which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin grows food in space]]. +1 Nutrient/turn to all bases subject to modifiers.

* ''VideoGame/Stars1995'' allows space stations to be built around colony worlds. A race's homeworld gets one automatically at the start of the game and they provide defences for worlds, allow ships to be refuelled, and can even be fitted with stargates and mass drivers to allow ships and resources to be transported faster and more efficiently than using transport ships alone. For Alternate Reality races, they also provide a home for your colonists, since they cannot set foot on any world. The downside to this is, of course, should the station be destroyed, all the colonists will be killed.

** ''VideoGame/SonicBlast'' has Silver Castle Zone, the fifth and final world in the game. It is a space station that resembles the Death Egg, and it consists of two action stages, and one or [[TrueFinalBoss two]] boss stages depending on whether or not Sonic or Knuckles collected all five [[BonusStageCollectibles Chaos Emeralds]]. When you beat the game, [[CollapsingLair Sonic or Knuckles watches it sink into the ocean]].

* Building them is a major part of playing ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'', and they all have different specialized functions. The first ExpansionPack adds starbases, which can be built anywhere, not just in orbit of your planets. The Vasari starbases can even move around the area but lack [[FasterThanLightTravel phase drives]]. The starbases can be customized through modules, which can turn them into fortresses, trade hubs, or hangars for huge waves of fighters.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'' takes place on the titular 13th station in most servers, until the bombs start going off, then its just space.
* ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'' has one appear in the campaign, it's basically a MobileFactory for Wraith fighters and eventually Battlecruisers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Startopia}}'s'' plot revolved around restoring abandoned spinning wheel-shaped stations. Strangely enough, all space stations in the galaxy appear to have the exact same design. The stations have 3 decks: engineering, pleasure, and bio. Biodeck is the innermost one and uses "nanosoil" to recreate any planetary environment to the point where you can actually grow plants in it. The pleasure deck is all for the entertainment of tourists and employees. The engineering deck (outermost) includes power stations, factories, docks, security stations, communicators, sick bays, sleeping pods, bathrooms, etc.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' has several types.
** Starbases are used to lay claim to systems, and start out as lowly Frontier Outposts that with the proper technology can be expanded and upgraded into various configurations - shipyards, stardocks, trade hubs, or even spaceborne citadels bristling with weapons, all of which can have additional defenses in the form of weapon platforms floating nearby. The fact that your home system always starts out with a decent-sized starbase is the main defense against early-game rushes.
** Within your systems, you can build Mining Stations to extract minerals, [[EnergyEconomy energy]], or strategic resources from celestial bodies, or Research Stations to make use of science-boosting features. These stations are presumably manned, but don't require any management beyond constructing them.

** The ''Leviathans'' DLC introduced Enclaves, minor factions specializing in selling their services providing rare resources, research, or art, who are all based on space stations scattered across the galaxy. Said stations have enough defenses to deal with any wandering space creatures or SpacePirates, but a powerful fleet or lategame Crisis will be enough to destroy an Enclave station.
** The same DLC also introduced the eponymous Leviathan entities, one of which is the Enigmatic Fortress, a sprawling space citadel built by long-extinct {{Precursors}}. Only a lategame fleet has any hope of overcoming its defenses, and even then you must send in an away team and puzzle out how to shut down the Fortress safely, or else it will regenerate back to full combat-readiness, or wipe out the entire system with its SelfDestructMechanism. Successfully plundering its secrets will grant access to unique evasion and tracking technology for your starships.
* The [[HubLevel Comet Observatory]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.

* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' has Citadel Station, owned by the MegaCorp Tri-Optimum. When you try hacking into their database to learn about the station, [=TriOp=] catches you and takes you there, where their [[CorruptCorporateExecutive sleazy VP Edward Diego]] offers to let you off the hook if you erase the ethical constraints on the station's AI, [[AiIsACrapshoot SHODAN.]] Naturally, with the hundreds of weapons and machines on-station, mutagenic viruses on the loose, and you held in stasis for six months to get a neural implant, it doesn't go well.
* ''VideoGame/TachyonTheFringe'' gives us truly massive space stations for a space fighter sim, some of which takes several minutes to fly around. The only structures the PlayerCharacter can dock at are space stations and platforms, as planets serve only as background. Every region has a single station where that acts as your home base. A shining example is the ''Olympus'', which looks like a set of office buildings in space - fitting, considering that it's the regional headquarters of the [=GalSpan=] Corporation. There's also ''New Vegas'', where you can gamble away your hard-earned money.
* ''VideoGame/TenMinuteSpaceStrategy'' lets you turn your {{colony ship}}s into permanent space stations which provide bonuses to nearby planetary colonies.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', scattered throughout the Origin System are Relays, orbital structures where [[PlayerCharacter Tenno]] can dock to meet fellow warriors, make business with various syndicates, see what [[ArmsDealer Darvo]] has on sale and maybe even meet elusive [[IntrepidMerchant Baro Ki'Teer, the "Void Trader"]]. Every once in a while, [[TheEmpire the Grineer]] or [[MegaCorp the Corpus]] will sic their superweapons on these stations, threatening to destroy them unless the Tenno team up to destroy these threats. The Tenno themselves can also build Clan dojos, which are hidden somewhere in space.
* ''[[VideoGame/XCom X-COM: Interceptor]]'' has you building space stations instead of underground bases. You start with one, and you can later build up to a dozen or so, which becomes necessary later in the game, as you need to expand the range of your {{Space Fighter}}s and protect more and more mining colonies. Your stations will occasionally be attacked by the aliens, requiring you to stop them, as well as equipping the stations with turrets. Also, your stations don't have any R&D facilities. Instead, all materials to be studied are shipped back to Earth, and the resulting information has to be downloaded using special communication arrays (no more than 3 per station). Oh, and the aliens love to send jamming probes to temporarily throttle your download speeds (are they working for AT&T or something). Due to a bug in the game, it's pretty much impossible to destroy those probes, so all that's left is to wait for them to run out of power. The stations also don't have any construction facilities, so all fighters are actually built on colonies and shipped to the designated station (those convoys can be intercepted by aliens).

* ''Webcomic/TheLastHumanInACrowdedGalaxy'': Shenya and Sarya move to one early in the comic, and most of the story takes place there.
* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', Hannelore spent most of her childhood on a large space station owned and operated by her parents' company; her father still lives there. She brings Marten and Marigold up for a visit in an arc starting with [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2104 #2104]]. The station is run by an on-board AI (also called Station) who is himself a large stakeholder in Ellicott-Chatham Technologies.
* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': The 'Savage Chicken" and its crew and passengers have trvelled to the [[Creator/JerryPournelle Pournelle]] / [[Creator/LarryNiven Niven]] / station on a job that was ''supposed'' to net them a new reactor.

* These are implied to exist in the universe of ''Roleplay/NexusGate'' though none have been officially named.
* These are quite popular in the Literature/ChakonaSpace 'Verse.
** Major stations can be found orbiting Earth and Chakona. Others exist elsewhere.
** A major station is under construction above Arisia.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E33SpacemanSonic Spaceman Sonic]]" featured, like the games, an abandoned Space Station, but unlike the games it wasn't Robotnik's property though that didn't keep it from feeling eerie, which certainly wasn't helped by the alien, giant, blob-like, flesh-eating monster that was wandering in the corridors looking for food.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' two-parter "Space Race", the ''Horizon'' is a massive, futuristic, self-sustaining space station that has been taken over by mutineers who plan to use it to try and colonize Mars. It [[SchizoTech stands out]] from the show's RetroUniverse, and is a direct spoof of the ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' example seen above.

* ISS[[note]]International Space Station[[/note]] (1998–present): Biggest one yet built. Consists of components from the planned Russian station Mir-2 (Zarya FGB and Zvezda Service Module (DOS-8)) and American station Freedom (Integrated Truss Structure), as well as modules from space agencies in [[UsefulNotes/{{JAXA}} Japan]], [[UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} Europe]], and elsewhere.
** [[http://heavens-above.com/ If you want to see where it currently is, go here]]
* Space lab: A sort of pseudo space station in the vain of the Manned Orbital Laboratory and a collaboration between NASA and the ESA. A modular experiment system where, often, a pressurized lab would be held in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay along with various external experiments. After about twenty days orbiting and research, the shuttle would close it's cargo bay and return to earth. One of these missions notably docked with the Mir space station as a temporary fitness lab.