Here is some information you may find useful as you plan how to implement this project or introduce it to your students.

• During the Cold War years, competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union was one of the major driving forces behind space exploration. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, space exploration has been increasingly characterized by international cooperation.



• Private businesses have assumed an increasingly important role in space exploration, as corporations have increased in size and power, and as the financial returns have become increasingly attractive.



• Economists, environmentalists, and futurists have predicted that human beings' need for resources (including energy, raw materials, and space) will create stronger and stronger incentives for space exploration and colonization. It is considered very likely that within students' lifetimes, humans will be living in, and routinely visiting, space.