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Humans have long dreamed of leaving Earth and venturing into the vastness of cosmic outer space. During the 20th century space travel became a real possibility, stimulating an extraordinary outpouring of visionary space projects. Space Expansionists claim these projects are increasingly feasible and desirable. Advocates assert that human expansion into space will fundamentally improve the human situation by enabling perennial human goals (improved security from violence, expanded and protected habitat, and ultimately survival of the human species). In the first steps beyond the atmosphere, a variety of military, scientific, and utilitarian activities have been conducted. The history of space activities has been marked by sudden and unexpected spurts of activity, followed by periods of relative stagnation. Recent developments point to another period of rapid expansion: renewed military tensions, new space private sector initiatives, renewed interest in Luna, and growing efforts to divert and mine asteroids. A core part of the arguments for the desirability of space expansion are geopolitical in that they claim broadly political effects will result from humans interacting with extraterrestrial material environments composed of particular combinations geographies and human-built artifacts. Space expansionist arguments are advanced through analogies to Earth geographies (e.g. space is an ocean), as well as large-scale historical trends and patterns. Space expansion is advanced as the opening of a new frontier, reversing the contemporary global closure brought about by rising levels of interdependence. The goal of space expansionists is to make humanity a multi-world species, and it is anticipated that biological species radiation will occur. This course explores the causes and consequences of space activity; how space activities reflect and effect world political order; and whether human expansion into space is desirable, as its fervent advocates believe.