Don't get me wrong, the International Space Station is no slouch, but back in the '70s NASA had some pretty grandiose visions for what life in space would be like. We'd be living in massive, rotating spheres, in cities designed to hold 10,000 people and wrapped around the inside of cylinders; we'd have flying vehicles and space suits to drift around in, and even sweeping green vistas with lakes and birds and cattle.
It would be our home away from home, and every comfort would be there. Just, you know, in space.
Of course, that's not quite the way it all panned out, considering the International Space Station only houses six crewmen at a time and isn't close to the orbital palaces you'll see below. These aren't just flights of fancy, either — NASA drafted them up during "a couple of space colony summer studies" at its Ames Research Center. (Best summer ever, right?)
Check it out in the gallery below. You just don't see good ol' futurism like this anymore. PHOTOS
Via NASA
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