History Main / SpaceStation

* Polyus (1987): A planned Almaz station, carrying a CO2 laser designed for anti-satellite warfare. Launched upside down due to space restrictions in the Energia, the intention was to yaw the station 180 degrees before firing rockets to place it in permanent orbit, but a failure in the inertial guidance system caused the maneuvering jets to rotate the craft 360 degrees, sending it careening into the atmosphere over the South Pacific.

* [[StarWars The Death Star]] is a cross between a space station and a starship because it can travel between star systems under its own power, but is huge (and round) enough to be mistaken for a moon. The [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU]] is 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...

* The wheel-like Station Five seen in the opening space scenes of ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'' is perhaps the most famous of all sci-fi movie space stations.

* The Battle School in ''[[EndersGame Ender's Game]]'' definitely fits. 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 in ''Ender's Shadow'' it's revealed that they actually have gravity-manipulation technology that they reverse engineered from the "dead" Bugger ships in the second Bugger War.]]

* ''[[{{ptitle3ox9crrdkerj}} Blake's 7]]'''s [[TheEmpire Terran Federation]] has a giant ring-shaped space station as the headquarters of their evil version of Starfleet.

*** Genesis I (2006-present)
*** Genesis II (2007-present)
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** Genesis I (2006-present)
** Genesis II (2007-present)

* ''{{Babylon 5}}''

* The semi-fiction futurist writings of Gerard O'Neill from the seventies and eighties, especially ''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, but he didn't.

Space stations in fiction have a tendency to be much, much larger. Many have adopted a wheel design, but this is not obligatory. If sufficiently large to support a sizeable permanent population, a space-station may be referred to as an "orbital habitat" or "space colony". [[ColonyDrop Don't drop it!]]

ArtificialGravity is usually provided, often realistically by rotating all or part of the station[[hottip:*: Well, semi-realistically, due to complications of physics. Go for a ride in one of those centrifuge-things at a carnival and [[SchmuckBait try looking around]] if you want to [[NauseaFuel see why they don't do that]] in RealLife]], but sometimes with AppliedPhlebotinum.

* Very large space-stations are integral to the background of the ''{{Gundam}}'' anime universe(s).

ArtificialGravity is usually provided, often realistically by rotating all or part of the station, but sometimes with AppliedPhlebotinum.

* MassEffect features two Space Stations as important plot locations. The Citadel is the seat of the Galactic government and generally has an AsceticAesthetic, Star Trek look (until you get to the Wards) while Omega is a WretchedHive with Cyberpunk UsedFuture themes. A number of less important stations crop up in sidequests.

* ''{{Babylon 5}}''
* ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
** Also Spacedock in ''StarTrekIII'', and the titular starbase in the ''StarTrekVanguard'' book series.

* [[{{MST3K}} The Satellite of Love]]
* Building them is a major part of playing ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'', and they all have different specialized functions.
* The first two acts of ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II: The Sith Lords'' 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.
* The orbiting space station in ''CortexCommand'', called a "Trade Star", plays a central part in the action. From this [[{{Two-DSpace}} orbiting]] station, units and objects come down in drop ships, and units, objects, and gold goes back up. So far, it apparently has no weapons whatsoever that can affect the ground battle.
* Most of the action of ''[[VorkosiganSaga Ethan of Athos]]'' by LoisMcMasterBujold takes place on Kline Station. A significant portion of the action of both ''The Vor Game'' and ''Komarr'' take place on stations (in the Hegen Hub and near the wormhole connecting Barrayar and Komarr respectively).
* ''[[{{ptitle3ox9crrdkerj}} Blake's 7]]'''s [[TheEmpire Terran Federation]] has a giant ring-shaped space station as the headquarters of their evil version of Starfleet.

* ''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.
* The JusticeLeague have the Watchtower and its larger, improved successor, Watchtower II. Its position in orbit with a giant laser cannon pointing down become a point of contention with the US government.
** And for many years before the Watchtower, the JLA had an orbiting satellite space station, through the 70s and part of the 80s (until the "Detroit League" era and the Crisis finished it off).
* Very large space-stations are integral to the background of the {{Gundam}} anime universe(s).
* The Battle School in ''Ender's Game'' definitely fits. 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 in ''Ender's Shadow'' it's revealed that they actually have gravity-manipulation technology that they reverse engineered from the "dead" Bugger ships in the second Bugger War.]]
* The StarWarsExpandedUniverse has something called Centerpoint Station, 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" involved 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 came back briefly in the NewJediOrder, when someone tried to use it to fire at Vong worldships but missed and hit some allies. And then they refused to use it again.
** A considerable part of LegacyOfTheForce is about the Corellians, trying to secede from the Galactic Federation of Free Worlds, commanding Centerpoint Station, which was destroyed eventually.
*** ...which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero might have been a mistake]], since in FateOfTheJedi it appears to have caged an EldritchAbomination. Making Centerpoint a combination of superweapon, [[SealedEvilInACan can of evil]], and place for a few thousand people to live and grow food.

* Ingrid's space colony in ''{{Starstuff}}.''

* There are two very important space stations in the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse:'' the orbital headquarters of the Global Guardians itself, and the Stronghold Orbital Super-Maximum Detention Center.

!!Examples :

'''RealLife'''

* ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'' : The wheel-like Station Five seen in the opening space scenes is perhaps the most famous of all sci-fi movie space stations.

* ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'' Perhaps the most famous of all.

'''Examples:'''

* Ingrid's space colony in {{Starstuff}}.

* ''Conquest of Space'' (George Pal's 1955 sci-fi flop after his previous blockbusters ''DestinationMoon'' and ''When Worlds Collide'') had The Wheel, whose design was taken from the famous illustrated book of that name.\

** Salyut 1 (1971): Only two crews went up to this. The first (Soyuz 10) couldn't open the door. The second (Soyuz 11) got on board and spent 11 days there, but died during reentry when a malfunctioning valve caused their capsule to depressurise.
** Salyut 2 (1973): An Almaz station. Depressurised on launch after being hit by debris from the Proton launcher. No attempts to visit.
** Salyut 3 (1974-5): Only had one crew visit. The only Almaz mission to actually do anything military related, it shot off its gun and destroyed a couple of satellites.
** Salyut 4 (1974-77)
** Salyut 5 (1976-77) The last Almaz station.
** Salyut 6 (1977-82)
** Salyut 7 (1982-91).
* Mir (1986-2001): "Peace". This included a a docking module that could take four other modules on one end- with another (Kvant) attached on the other end. Later became capable of having the Space Shuttle dock with it. One of those modules, Spektr, was rendered unusable after a crew member, attempting to remotely dock the thing, crashed an unmanned cargo craft into it- nearly killing everyone on board. First permanently manned station.

* Skylab (1973-79)

* ISS (1998-present): Biggest one yet built and not yet finished.