Hello fellow Asgardians, I am writing this question to all of you. How suitable would it be to send a representative of Asgardia on the ISS for a trip around our Earth and, perhaps, see NASA's work on potential exoplanets?

The idea about an orbital station is truly fascinating. Indeed, this is the logical first step - getting rid of the hug of the mother Earth is very logical to the child who takes its own life in control and hits its own road. However, we have to very carefully examine the possible outcomes, hurdles and drawbacks, before making such a giant engineering effort. What I have in my mind lately, is a huge space station in the vicinity - low orbit - of a massive celestial body. This kind of plot is cute, romantic, and beautifully looking. The station hangs over the cloudy blue planet, with the people inside possibly thinking "How beautiful is our home". Unluckily, this artistic point of view of the future station would require an enormous source of energy just to maintain its orbital height, if we do not object the day and night shifting 36 times in 24 hours. We'd better go for an option that gives us the comfort of the Earth-like night and day experience. The Geostationary orbit would be an option to keep constant position towards the ground, but would still need some significant energy to cancel the gravity pull and prevent the free falling towards the lower orbital levels. The bigger the Station - the more the energy. I would propose, with your kind permission, the following plan, which includes a possible solution to slash the Space Station's "stay-in-place" energy requirements. The plan aims at building the future Orbital City in one of the two near-Earth Lagrangean points. In my own opinion, L1 would be the primary choice, as it has one additional plus, which is pointed at below: a) Construction of far-reach spaceship (let's call it "Starship" for easier identification) "anchored" on the geostationary orbital level over the earth Equator. The materials for the construction of the Starship can be easily transported with the existing rockets. Furthermore, the capsules, carrying the materials for the Starship can be so constructed, that their parts and components to be readily - or with minor rework - usable for the Starship's construction, instead of burning down to crude metal into the earth's atmosphere. b) When the Starship is completely constructed, she can be loaded for an extended period of time with all the necessary materials and equipment - we do not need to hurry, because she will act as an orbital station during her "docking" time on the geostationary orbit. When a mission is initiated, the ship can be easily pushed down by using LH2/LOX propulsion, or a plasma drive to get to lower orbit and use the Earth's gravity pull as a gravitational slingshot. c) The Starship can be used as a main transport vehicle during the missions to the Moon and beyond very effectively. Once pushed on the orbital course, she will gain the necessary momentum to reach the Moon after a number of revolutions around the Earth, and then using her own thrusters to escape the orbit on the right course to her destination - so called "gravitational slingshot". On the way back to the Earth's Geostationary orbital position she can use the Lunar gravity slingshot effect likewise and slow down using reverse thrust. d) The Starship will carry a number of shuttles to deliver the equipment, materials and so on to the Moon's surface - for the construction of the Lunar facilities and settlements. She is not designed to land on a celestial body, but stay in orbit around it. e) A fleet of Starships can be eventually built to help the construction of the Space Station in the near-Earth Lagrangean point L1 - the point in which the gravitational pulls of the Earth and the Sun cancel each other. L1 is located some 1.5 million miles away from the Earth. The distance is easily and inexpensively covered within one Earth's week with the help of the Lunar gravitational slingshot. The benefits of this approach: 1. The Lunar dust and gravel, mixed with some proper chemical foam-forming compounds can be used for construction of the Space Station with minimal usage of expensive metals. The additional plus of this approach would be the better radiation shielding provided by this type of construction. 2. Insignificant energy requirements to keep the station in position. The saved fuel can be used to create artificial gravity or helping some self-sustaining chemical or biological processes required by the design of the Station's life supporting systems. 3. Why do I vote for L1: As L1 is between the Sun and the Earth, the Starship fleet can use Solar Wind sails to propel themselves after gaining initial momentum, and thus spare LH2/LOX or other fuel for the back-thrust to slow down on Earth approach.