For many people, the concept of going out in to space entails going to an exotic destinations such as the Moon or the Mars. However, most people don’t realize the fact that this requires a lot of preparation and logistics in order to make it happen. For instance, in order to travel to long distances, you need to have a stepping stone that you can use. This is especially important, as launching any important mission from Earth’s gravity well is a difficult prospect. Hence, it becomes technologically difficult as well as financially impossible to create long range missions with these limitations. However, with the utilization of space stations in the orbit around the Earth, it could become possible to launch these missions from outside the Earth’s gravity well. Read the rest of this entry »