Human presence in space (alsoanthropogenic presence in space orhumanity in space) is the direct and mediated presence ortelepresence of humans inouter space,^[1] and in an extended sense across space includingastronomical bodies. Human presence in space, particularly through mediation, can take many physical forms fromspace debris,uncrewed spacecraft,artificial satellites,space observatories,crewed spacecraft,art in space, tohuman outposts in outer space such asspace stations.

While human presence in space, particularly its continuation and permanence can be a goal in itself,^[1] human presence can have a range of purposes^[2] and modes fromspace exploration,commercial use of space toextraterrestrial settlement or evenspace colonization andmilitarisation of space. Human presence in space is realized and sustained through the advancement and application ofspace sciences, particularlyastronautics in the form of spaceflight andspace infrastructure.

Humans have achieved some mediated presence throughout theSolar System, but the most extensive presence has been inorbit around Earth. Humans reached outer space mediated in 1944 (MW 18014) and have sustained mediated presence since 1958 (Vanguard 1), as well as having reached space directly for the first time on12 April 1961 (Yuri Gagarin) and continuously since the year 2000 with the crewedInternational Space Station (ISS), or since the later 1980s with some few interruptions through crewing its predecessor, the space stationMir.^[3] The increasing and extensive human presence in orbital space around Earth, beside its benefits, has also produced a threat to it by carrying with it space debris, potentially cascading into the so-calledKessler syndrome.^[4] This has raised the need forregulation and mitigation of such to secure asustainable access to outer space.

Securing the access to space and human presence in space has been pursued and allowed by the establishment ofspace law andspace industry, creating aspace infrastructure. But sustainability has remained a challenging goal, with theUnited Nations seeing the need to advance long-termsustainability of outer space activities in space science and application,^[5] and theUnited States having it as a crucial goal of its contemporaryspace policy andspace program.^[6][7]

Forouter space being the dominant expanse ofspace, "space" is often used synonymously for outer space, referring to human presence in space to human presence across all of space, including astronomical bodies which outer space surrounds.

The United States has been using the term "human presence" to identify one of the long-term goals of its space program and its international cooperation.^[1][8] While it traditionally means and is used to name direct human presence, it is also used for mediated presence.^[1] Differentiating human presence in space between direct and mediated human presence, meaning human or non-human presence, such as withcrewed or uncrewed spacecraft, is rooted in a history of how human presence is to be understood (seededicated chapter).

Human, particularly direct, presence in space is sometimes replaced with "boots on the ground"^[1] or equated with space colonization. But such terms, particularlycolonization^[8] and evensettlement has been avoided^[1] and questioned to describe human presence in space, since they employ very particular concepts ofappropriation, with historic baggage,^[9][10][11] addressing the forms of human presence in a particular and not general way.

Alternatively some have used the term "humanization of space",^[12][13][14] which differs in focusing on the general development, impact and structure of human presence in space.

On an international level the United Nations uses the phrase of "outer space activity" for the activity of its member states in space.^[5]

Human presence inouter space began with the first launches ofartificial object in the mid 20th century, and has increased to the point where Earth is orbited by a vast number of artificial objects and the far reaches of the Solar System have been visited and explored by a range of space probes. Human presence throughout the Solar System is continued by different contemporary and future missions, most of them mediating human presence throughrobotic spaceflight.

What began as aSoviet achievement and later became aUnited States-Soviet competition, human space exploration has now evolved into a global andcommercial frontier.

Participation and representation of humanity in space is an issue of human access to and presence in space ever since the beginning of spaceflight.^[15] Differentspace agencies,space programs and interest groups such as theInternational Astronomical Union have been formed supporting or producing humanity's or a particular human presence in space. Representation has been shaped by the inclusiveness, scope andvarying capabilities of these organizations and programs.

Some rights of non-spacefaring countries to partake in spaceflight have been secured through internationalspace law, declaring space the "province of all mankind", understanding spaceflight as its resource, though sharing of space for all humanity is still criticized asimperialist and lacking,^[15][8] particularly regarding regulation of private spceflight.^[16]

Additionally to international inclusion theinclusion of women,^[17]people of colour and withdisability has also been lacking.^[18][19][20] To reach a more inclusive spaceflight some organizations like theJustspace Alliance^[15] andIAU featuredInclusive Astronomy^[21] have been formed in recent years.

Member States of theUnited Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and logo of its secretariateUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

Space activity is legally based on theOuter Space Treaty, the main international treaty. Though there are other international agreements such as the significantly less ratifiedMoon Treaty.

The Outer Space Treaty established the basic ramifications for space activity in article one:"The exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind."

And continued in article two by stating:"Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."^[22]

The development of international space law has revolved much around outer space being defined ascommon heritage of mankind. TheMagna Carta of Space presented by William A. Hyman in 1966 framed outer space explicitly not asterra nullius but asres communis, which subsequently influenced the work of theUnited Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).^[15][23]

TheUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and theInternational Telecommunication Union are international organizations central for facilitating space regulation, such asspace traffic management.

Humans have been producing a range ofradiation which has reached space unintentionally as well as intentionally, well before any direct human presence in space.Electromagnetic radiation such as light, of humans, has been reaching even stars as far away as the age of the radiation.^[24]

Beginning in the 20th century, humans have been sending radiation significantly into space.Nuclear explosions, especiallyhigh-altitude ones have since at times, starting with 1958, just a year after the first satellite Sputnik was launched, introduced strong and broad radiation from humans into space, producingelectromagnetic pulses andorbital radiation belts, adding to the explosion's destructive potential on ground and in orbit.

While Earth's and humanities radiation profile is the main material forspace based remote Earth observation, but radiation by human activity from Earth and from space has also been an obstacle for human activities, such as spiritual life^[25][26] orastronomy throughlight pollution^[27] andradio spectrum pollution from Earth and space. In the case ofradio astronomyradio quiet zones have been kept and sought out, with thefar side of the Moon being most pristine facing away from human madeelectromagnetic interference.

Space junk as product and form of human presence in space has existed ever since the first orbital spaceflights and comes mostly in the form of space debris in outer space. Space debris for example was ejected in 1957 purposefully from anAerobee launch system in a likely failed attempt to reach for the first timeescape velocity from Earth, and therefore space beyond Earth.^[28][29] Most space debris is in orbit around Earth, it can stay there for years to centuries if at altitudes from hundreds to thousands of kilometers, before it falls to Earth.^[30] Space debris is a hazard since it can hit and damage spacecraft. Having reached considerable amounts around Earth, policies have been put into place to prevent space debris and hazards, such asinternational regulation to prevent nuclear hazards in Earth's orbit and theRegistration Convention as part of space traffic management.

But space junk can also come as result of human activity on astronomical bodies, such as the remains of space missions, like the manyartificial objects left behind on the Moon,^[31] andon other bodies.

Human presence in space has been strongly based on the manyrobotic spacecraft, particularly as the manyartificial satellites in orbit around Earth.

Many firsts of human presence in space have been achieved by robotic missions. The first artificial object to reach space, above the 100 km altitudeKármán line, and therefore performing the firstsub-orbital flight wasMW 18014 in 1944. But the first sustained presence in space was established by theorbital flight ofSputnik in 1957. Followed by a rich number of roboticspace probes achieving human presence and exploration throughout the Solar system for the first time.

Human presence at the Moon was established by theLuna programme starting in 1959, with a firstflyby andheliocentric orbit (Luna 1), a first arrival of an artificial object on the surface with animpactor (Luna 2), and a for the first time a successful flight to thefar side of the Moon (Luna 3). The Moon then was in 1966 visited for the first time by alander (Luna 9), as well as anorbiter (Luna 10), and in 1970 for the first time arover (Lunokhod 1) landed on an extraterrestrial body.Interplanetary presence was established at Venus by theVenera program, with aflyby in 1961 (Venera 1) anda crash in 1966 (Venera 3).^[32][33]

Presence in theouter Solar System was achieved byPioneer 10 in 1972^[34] and presence ininterstellar space byVoyager 1 in 2012.^[35]

The 1958Vanguard 1 is the fourth artificial satellite and the oldest spacecraft still in space and orbit around Earth, though inactive.^[36]

Since the very beginning of human outer space activities in 1944, andpossibly before that,^[38] life has been present withmicroscopic life asspace contaminate and after 1960 asspace research subjects. Prior to crewed spaceflight non-humananimals had been subjects of space research, specificallybioastronautics andastrobiology, being exposed to ever higher testflights. The first animals (including humans) andplant seeds in space above the 100 kmKármán line werecorn seedsand fruit flies, launched for the first time on 9 July 1946,^[39] with the first fruit flies launched and returned alive in 1947.^[40] In 1949Albert II, became the firstmammal andfirst primate reaching the 100 km Kármán line, and in 1957 the dogLaika became the first animal in orbit, with both also becoming the first fatalities of spaceflight and in space, respectively. In 1968, onZond 5Russian tortoises, worms, flies and seeds became the firstmulticelular life from Earth to be flown to, as well as returned safely, from the Moon and anywhere beyond.^[41][42] In 2019Chang'e 4 landed fruit flies on the Moon, the first extraterrestrial stay of non-human animals.^[43]

Visits of organisms to extraterrestrial bodies have been a significant issue ofplanetary protection, as with thecrash of tardigrades on the Moon in 2019.

Plants first grown in 1966 withKosmos 110^[44] and in 1971 onSalyut 1, with the first producing seeds August 4, 1982 onSalyut 7.^[45] The first plant to sprout on the Moon and any extraterrestrial body grew in 2019, on theChang'e 4 lander.^[46]

Plants and growing them in space and places such as the Moon have been important subjects of space research, but also as psychological support and possibly nutrition during continuous crewed presence in space.^[45]

Direct human presence in space was achieved withYuri Gagarin flying aspace capsule in 1961 for one orbit around Earth for the first time. While direct human presence in open space, by exiting a spacecraft in aspacesuit, a so-calledextravehicular activity, has been achieved since the first person to do so,Alexei Leonov, in 1965.

ThoughValentina Tereshkova was in 1963 the first woman in space, women saw no further presence in space until the 1980s and are still underrepresented, e.g. with no women ever being present on the Moon.^[17] An internationalization of direct human presence in space started with the firstspace rendezvous of two crews of differenthuman spaceflight programs, theApollo–Soyuz mission in 1975 and at the end of the 1970s with theInterkosmos program.

Space stations have harboured so far the only long-duration direct human presence in space. After the first stationSalyut 1 (1971) and its tragicSoyuz 11 crew, space stations have been operated consecutively sinceSkylab (1973), having allowed a progression of long-duration direct human presence in space. Long-duration direct human presence has been joined by visiting crews since 1977 (Salyut 6). Consecutive direct human presence in space has been achieved since theSalyut successorMir starting with 1987. This was continued until the operational transition from the Mir to theISS, giving rise with its first occupation to an uninterrupted direct human presence in space since 2000.^[3]Whilehuman population records in orbit developed from 1 in 1961, 2 in 1962, 3 in 1964, 4 in 1965, 5 and 7 in 1969, 8 and 11 in 1984, 12 in 1990 and 13 in 1995,^[47] to 14 in 2021, 17 in 2023^[48] and 19 in 2024,^[49] developing into a continuous population of no less than 10 people on two space stations since 5 June 2022 (as of 2024).^[50] The ISS has hosted the most people in space at the same time, reaching 13 for the first time during the eleven day docking ofSTS-127 in 2009.^[51]

Beyond Earth the Moon has been the only astronomical object which so far has seen direct human presence through theApollo missions between 1968 and 1972, beginning with the first orbit byApollo 8 in 1968 and with the first landing byApollo 11 in 1969. The longest extraterrestrial human stay was three days byApollo 17.

While most persons who have been to space areastronauts, professional members ofhuman spaceflight programs, particularly governmental ones, the few others, starting in the 1980s, have been trained and gone to space asspaceflight participants, with the firstspace tourist staying in space in 2001.

By the end of the 2010s several hundred people from more than40 countries have gone into space, most of them reaching orbit. 24 people havetraveled to the Moon and 12 of themwalked on the Moon.^[53]Space travelers have spent by 2007 over 29,000 person-days (or a cumulative total of over 77 years) in space including over 100 person-days ofspacewalks.^[54]Usual durations for individuals to inhabit space on long-duration stays are six months,^[55] with thelongest stays on record being at about a year.

A permanent human presence in space depends on an established space infrastructure which harbours, supplies and maintains human presence. Suchinfrastructure has originally been Earthground-based, but with increased numbers ofsatellites and long-duration missions beyond thenear side of the Moon space-to-space based infrastructure is being used. First simple interplanetary infrastructures have been created byspace probes particularly when employing a system which combines alander and a relayingorbiter.

Space stations arespace habitats which have provided a crucial infrastructure for sustaining a continuous direct human, including non-human, presence in space. Space stations have been continuously present in orbit around Earth fromSkylab in 1973, to theSalyut stations, Mir and eventually ISS.The plannedArtemis program includes theLunar Gateway a future space station around the Moon as a multimission waystation.^[57]

Orbital altitudes of several significant satellites of Earth

Human presence has also been expressed through spiritual and artistic installations in outer space oron the Moon.Apollo 15 Mission CommanderDavid Scott left for example a Bible on theirLunar Roving Vehicle during anextravehicular activity on the Moon. Space has furthermore been the site of people taking part in religious festivities such asChristmas on the International Space Station.

Human presence inEarth orbit andheliocentric orbit has been the case with arange of artificial objects since the beginning of spaceflight (in orbit since 1957 withSputnik 1 and heliocentric orbit since 1959 withLuna 1), and at moreinterplanetary heliocentric orbits since 1961 withVenera 1.Extraterrestrial orbits other than heliocentric orbit has been achieved since 1966, starting withLuna 10 around the Moon and several at the same time in orbit of the Moon that same year starting withLunar Orbiter 1, and since 1971 withMariner 9 around another planet (Mars).

Humans have also used and occupiedco-orbital configurations,particularly at different liberation points withhalo orbits, to harness the benefits of those so calledLagrange points.

Some interplanetary missions, particularly theUlysses solar polar probe and considerablyVoyager 1 and2, as well as others likePioneer 10 and11, have entered trajectories taking them out of theecliptic plane.

Humanity has reached different types of astronomical bodies, but the longest and most diverse presence (including non-human, e.g. sprouting plants^[58]) has beenon the Moon, particularly because it is the first and only extraterrestrial body having been directly visited by humans.

Space probes have been establishing and mediating human presence interplanetarily since theirfirst visits to Venus. Mars has seen a continuous presencesince 1997,^[59] after beingfirst flown by in 1964 andlanded on in 1971.A group of missions have been present on Marssince 2001, including continuous presence by a series of roverssince 2003.

Beside having reached someplanetary-mass objects (that isplanets,dwarf planets or the largest, so-calledplanetary-mass moons), humans have also reached, landed and in some cases even returned robotic probes from somesmall Solar System bodies, likeasteroids andcomets, with arange of space probes.

The Solar System region near theSun'scorona, insideMercury's orbit, with its highgravitational potential difference from Earth and the subsequent highdelta-v needed to reach it, has only been considerably pierced on highlyelliptic orbits by somesolar probes likeHelios 1 & 2, as well as the more contemporaryParker Solar Probe. The latter being the closest to reach the Sun, breaking speed records with its very low solar altitudes atperihelion apsis.

Future direct human presence beyond Earth's orbit is possibly going to be re-introduced if current plans for crewedresearch stations to be establishedon Mars andon the Moon are continued to be developed.

Human presence in theouter Solar System has been established by the first visit toJupiter in 1973 byPioneer 10.^[34] Thirty years later nine probes had traveled to the Outer Solar System, and the first such probe (JUICE, theJupiter Icy Moons Explorer) by another space agency than NASA had just been launched on its way. Jupiter andSaturn are the only outer Solar System bodies which have been orbited by probes (Jupiter:Galileo in 1995 andJuno in 2016; Saturn:Cassini–Huygens in 2004), with all other outer Solar System probes performing flybys.

The Saturn moonTitan, with its special lunar atmosphere, has so far been the only body in the outer Solar System to be landed on by theCassini–Huygens landerHuygens in 2005.

Several probes have reached Solarescape velocity, withVoyager 1 being the first to cross after 36 years of flight theheliopause and enterinterstellar space on August 25, 2012, at distance of 121AU from the Sun.^[35]

Living in outer space is fundamentally different to living on Earth. It is shaped by the characteristic environment of outer space, particularly itsmicrogravity (producing weightlessness) and its nearperfect vacuum (supplying few and producing unhindered exposure to radiation and material from far away). Mundane needs such as for air, pressure, temperature and light have to be accommodated completely bylife support systems. Furthermoremovement,food intake andhygiene is confronted with challenges.

Long-duration stays are particularly endangered by the prevalentradiation exposure and thehealth effects of microgravity. Human fatalities have been the case due to accidents during spaceflight, particularly atlaunch andreentry. With the last in-flight accident killing humans, theColumbia accident in 2003, the sum of in-flight fatalities has risen to 15 astronauts and 4cosmonauts, in five separate incidents.^[61][62] Over 100 others have died inaccidents during activity directly related to spaceflight or testing.None of them remained in space, but small parts of the remains of deceased people have been taken asspace burials to orbital space since 1992 andcontroversially even to the Moon since 1999.^[63]

Bioastronautics,space medicine,space technology andspace architecture are fields which are occupied with alleviating the effects of space on humans and non-humans.

Research has begun into the culture and "microsocieties" that are formed in space, with space archeologists analyzing residue from space environments to learn about astronaut life.^[64] A few incidents of astronauts from different countries having difficulties in getting along have also been studied.^[65]

Human space activity, and its subsequent presence, can and has been having an impact on space as well as on the capacity to access it. This impact of human space activity and presence, or its potential, has created the need to address its issues regarding planetary protection, space debris,nuclear hazards,radio pollution andlight pollution, to thereusability of launch systems, for space not to become asacrifice zone.^[66]

Sustainability has been a goal of space law,space technology and space infrastructure, with theUnited Nations seeing the need to advance long-term sustainability of outer space activities in space science and application,^[5] and the United States having it as a crucial goal of its contemporaryspace policy and space program.^[6][7]

Human presence in space is particularly being felt in orbit around Earth. The orbital space around Earth has seen increasing and extensive human presence, beside its benefits it has also produced a threat to it by carrying with it space debris, potentially cascading into the so-calledKessler syndrome.^[4] This has raised the need forregulation and mitigation of such to secure asustainable access to outer space.

Individually or as a society humans have engaged sincepre-history in developing their perception of space above the ground, or thecosmos at large, and developing their place in it.

Social sciences have been studying such works of people from pre-history to the contemporary with the fields ofarchaeoastronomy tocultural astronomy. With actual human activity and presence in space the need for fields likeastrosociology andspace archaeology have been added.

Earth observation has been one of the first missions of spaceflight, resulting in a dense contemporary presence ofEarth observation satellites, having a wealth of uses and benefits for life on Earth.

Viewing human presence from space, particularly by humans directly, has been reported by some astronauts to cause acognitive shift in perception, especially while viewing the Earth from outer space, this effect has been called theoverview effect. A planetary understanding of life on Earth has given rise to an understandig of Earth as homeworld with a precious ecosystem, which we need to take care of, as famously described inTerre-Patrie (1993) byEdgar Morin orCarl Sagan in his description of Earth as aPale Blue Dot in space.

Parallel to the aboveoverview effect the term "ultraview effect" has been introduced for a subjective response of intense awe some astronauts have experienced viewing large "starfields" while in space.^[70]

Space observatories like theHubble Space Telescope have been present in Earth's orbit, benefiting from advantages from being outside Earth's atmosphere and away from itsradio noise, resulting in less distorted observation results.

Related to the long discussion of what human presence constitutes and how it should be lived, the discussion about direct (e.g. crewed) and mediated (e.g. uncrewed) human presence, has been decisive for how space policy makers have chosen human presence and its purposes.^[71]

The relevance of this issue for space policy has risen with the advancement and resulting possibilities oftelerobotics,^[1] to the point where most of the human presence in space has been reallized robotically, leaving direct human presence behind.

The location of human presence has been studied throughout history by astronomy and was significant in order to relate to the heavens, that is to outer space and its bodies.

The historic argument betweengeocentrism andheliocentrism is one example about the location of human presence.

A diagram of Earth's location in theobservable Universe. Alternative version:block arranged collage

Realizations of thescales of space, have been taken as subject to discuss human and life's existence or relations tospace and time beyond them, with some understanding humanity's or life's presence as asingularity or one to be inisolation, pondering on theFermi paradox.

A diverse range of arguments of how to relate to space beyond human presence have been raised, with some seeing space beyond humans as reason to venture out into space and exploring it, some aiming forcontact withextraterrestrial life, to arguments forprotection of humanity or life from its possibilities.^[72][73]

Considerations about the ecological integrity^[74] and independence of celestial bodies, counter exploitive understandings of space as dead, particularly in the sense ofterra nullius, have raised issues such asrights of nature.

Space and human presence in it has been the subject of different agendas.^[2]

The pursued of the realization of spaceflight developed particularly duringhigh modernity. This was fueled and enabled by the accumulated knowledge about space since the invention and first use (1609,Galileo Galilei) of thetelescope for astronomical observationsearly into modernity. Fiction andutopian literature started to explore space, giving rise toscience-fiction and space as an envisioned realm reachable by living humans. New coherent world views, with the scales of space (and time) in mind, developed, such as thetranshumanistcosmism movement, which have been significantly influential in the pursued of spaceflight ever since, particularly the groundbreakingSoviet space program.^[75]

That said human presence in space at its beginnings, was fueled by theCold War and its outgrowing theSpace Race. During this time technological, nationalist, ideological andmilitary competition were dominant driving factors of space policy^[76] and the resulting activity and, particularly direct human, presence in space.

With the waning of the Space Race, concluded bycooperation in human spaceflight, focus shifted in the 1970s further to space exploration andtelerobotics, having a range of achievements and technological advances.^[77] Space exploration meant by then also an engagement by governments in thesearch for extraterrestrial life.

Since human activity and presence in space has been producingspin-off benefits, other than for the above purposes, such as Earth observation andcommunication satellites for civilian use, international cooperation to advance such benefits of human presence in space grew with time.^[78] Particularly for the purpose of continuing benefits of space infrastructure andspace science the United Nations has been pushing for safeguardinghuman activity in outer space in a sustainable way.^[5]

With the contemporary so-calledNewSpace, the aim ofcommercialization of space has grown along with a narrative of space habitation for thesurvival of some humans away from and without Earth, which in turn has been critically analyzed and highlightedcolonialist purposes for human activity and presence in space.^[79] This has given rise for a deeper engagement in the fields ofspace environment andspace ethics.^[80]

• Space exploration#Rationales
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    • NASA spinoff technologies
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      • Search for extraterrestrial life (see alsofirst contact)
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• For presence, in itself (seeHuman outpost space basing)
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      • Demographic push (e.g. due tooverconsumption)
      • Forced displacement
      • Space and survival
      • Escapism
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      • Space colonization
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        • Directed panspermia

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