Humans in Outer Space — Interdisciplinary Odysseys [electronic resource] / edited by Luca Codignola, Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, Nicolas Peter.

Setting The Scene -- Summary -- Micro-organisms and extraterrestrial travel -- Future encounters: learning from the past? -- Are we alone? Searching for life in the universe and its creation -- What’s the story, mother? Some thoughts on Science Fiction Film and Space Travel -- Aiming ahead: next generation visions for the next 50 years in space -- Can We Compare? -- Summary -- Inter caetero and outer space: some rules of engagement -- Celestial bodies: Lucy in the sky -- Why we had better drop analogies when discussing the role of humans in space -- ’Spatiality’ — Space As A Source of Inspiration -- Summary -- Missing the impossible: how we talk and write about space -- Towards a new inspiring era of collaborative space exploration -- First Odyssey: Humans in Earth Orbit: what Effect does It Have? -- Summary -- With the eyes of an astronaut -- Human spaceflight, technology development and innovation -- Human—machine cooperation in space environments -- Space law in the age of the International Space Station -- Second Odyssey: Humans in Space Exploration: What Effects Will It Have? -- Summary -- Humans — more than the better robots for exploration? -- Humans leaving the Earth — a philosopher’s view -- Human spaceflight as a matter of culture and national vision -- The need of a legal framework for space exploration -- Third Odyssey: Humans Migrating the Earth: How Will It Affect Human Thought? -- Summary -- Mars as a place to live? Past, present and future -- Philosophical and religious implications of extraterrestrial intelligent life -- ET culture -- The Vienna Vision on Humans in Outer Space -- Humans in Outer Space.

The space-faring nations are heading for the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and Near-Earth Objects. They might be soon prepared with regard to technology development. But they also need to benefit from the humanities (history, philosophy, anthropology), the arts as well as the social sciences (political science, economics, law) to implement their plans. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), supported by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, have organized the first comprehensive trans-disciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space. This dialogue goes further than regarding humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration. It investigates the human quest for odysseys beyond Earth's atmosphere and reflects also on the implications of finding extraterrestrial life.