Houses in the Sky

People have been living in space every day since November 2, 2000. Here's how it happened, from a moon made of bricks to the private space stations of tomorrow.

In 1869, a magazine story imagined a brick moon launched into orbit by accident, with people still inside. A century later, the first real space station rose into the sky. Since then, humans have built houses in orbit, broken them, fixed them, and learned to live there for months and even years at a time.

Houses in the Sky tells the true story of every space station ever built, in a fun, fast-moving narrative for curious readers ages 9 to 12. Kids will discover:

• The secret Soviet spy station that test-fired a cannon in space
• How astronauts saved Skylab with a homemade parasol after it was damaged on launch day
• The day Skylab fell on Australia and the $400 littering ticket NASA finally paid
• The daring rescue of Salyut 7, a station found dead and frozen in orbit
• The cosmonaut who left the Soviet Union and came home to a different country
• The doctor who lived in space for a record-setting 437 days
• How the International Space Station was built by fifteen nations, piece by piece
• China's Tiangong, India's planned station, and the private companies racing to build what comes next

• Station Cards with quick facts for every station
• How It Really Works boxes that explain the science
• Down Below, Up Above boxes comparing life on submarines with life in orbit
• A complete table of every space station ever flown
• A Who's Who, glossary, and a guide to spotting the ISS from your own backyard