"We were nine aboard the Meteor, specialists whose skills overlapped. That was not many, to rattle around in so huge a hull. But you need room and privacy on a long trip, and of course as a rule we hauled a lot of cargo." (p. 17)
Spacemen need room on long trips. In other words, they need space in space. However, James Blish imagined a spaceship whose spaciousness was not welcome but overwhelming for its crew:
"The very hugeness of the Argo - a ship now manned by three people but built originally for two thousand - made her a creature of silences."
-James Blish, Mission To The Heart Stars (London, 1980), CHAPTER FIVE, p. 51.
Such a large faster-than-light ship is necessary for a sixty thousand light-years round trip for just three men. Blish conveys the eeriness of the cavernous storage areas:
"...like being cast away in a deserted ocean liner..." (p. 52)
And both authors express the difficulties of interstellar travel even at hypothetical super-light speeds.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteAs of now, however, real world spaceships, even those built by SpaceX, have what seems to me to be small and cramped accommodations for their crews.
Ad astra! Sean