Science fiction is the mirror of our dreams and ambitions.
In the early days when the Apollo rockets flew, science fiction reflected the dreams of space stations and colonies on the moon and mars. Science fiction reflected the belief that the future would be better, an open frontier. NASA's dreams of manned space flight have largely died and we live in an era of limits. Science fiction still offers the thread of hope, but it is woven in the dark matrix of the late twentieth century. Science fiction is no longer just the shallow juvenile fiction of Heinlein.