You have requested a brief lesson on “Spacer Families” via the Wiki-Teacher service. By opening this message you have agreed to have your TSA account charged 2.25 credits.

Spacers is a generic term applied to individuals who live the majority of their lives someplace other than a major planetary body (i.e. in orbital stations, on asteroids, or in interplanetary space). While Spacers are passionate toward self-reliance and personal freedom they also value organizational structure. The majority of Spacers practice a philosophy of neo-Taoism and have a tendency for nostalgia.

Spacers are organized into several collective bodies referred to colloquially as Spacer Families. Originally these were groups of individuals with similar backgrounds, be they nationalistic, ethnic, or philosophical. During the early years of space colonization fatal accidents were numerous. This resulted in a large number of orphaned children without a civic infrastructure established to care for them. As the various Spacer groups started caring for these children their organization changed to a family, or kinship, structure.

Through breeding, training, and attitude Spacers are known to be the best low and zero gravity workers in the system, although they can be difficult to work with at times.

Family names do not indicate a genetic relationship. All members, regardless of heritage, adopt the same last name. The Family names were chosen for various reasons although many experts will suggest that not a lot of time was spent thinking about them. There are currently five recognized Major Families:

• Armstrong – The majority of the members have an association to North America. This is the most highly structured of the Families with many connections to asteroid mining.
• Korolev – While the founding members traced their ancestry to Eastern Europe the current demographics are more diverse. This family specializes in ship construction and repair.
  
• Shenzhou – The majority of this Family’s members trace their ancestry back to China or neighboring Asian countries. With diversified interests this Family prefers to work with space based agri-businesses.
  
• Rogers – A highly multicultural group whose members share little ethnic or national similarities. They are the Jack of all Trades of the Families.
  
• Gordon – The most eccentric of the Families. Prone to exaggeration this Family is nonetheless known for taking on challenging, near impossible, low gravity contracts.
  

Minor Families – Over time smaller Families have disappeared or been absorbed into the larger groups (e.g. the Goddard and Gagarin branches). Still, a number of small groups continue to reappear over time (e.g the Bakers). It is not clear if the Spacers currently living in new colony systems will remain as sub-branches of the Major Families or eventually split off into their own groups.

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