An artificial structure in space, where people live and work. Unlike the Cool Starship, the Space Station is usually fixed in orbit around a planet or at a particular point in space. It also allows for the construction of a standing studio set and avoids expensive location shoots. Real-world space stations have existed since 1971 (Salyut 1) and four of them the International Space Station, the Chinese Tiangong-1, and Genesis I & II (both unmanned) are currently in orbit. These are all much smaller than what one is used to in sci-fi shows. The list for the interested can be seen below. Space stations in fiction have a tendency to be very large, sometimes housing an entire city. Many have adopted a wheel design for a centrifuge-based system of gravity (unless Artificial Gravity is employed), but this is not obligatory. If sufficiently large to support a sizable permanent population, a space-station may be referred to as an "orbital habitat" or "space colony". Don't drop it! The problem of gas exchange and food production is often solved by incorporating a closed ecosystem and green plants onboard, sometimes in dirt, sometimes hydroponics, sometimes algae aquaculture. Fictional examples:

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Space Station - TV Tropes