Creature Comforts in Space

Samuel Coniglio is a futurist, technical writer, photographer, inventor, and private space industry advocate. He is a Board member and former Vice President of the Space Tourism Society. His research and presentations have been covered by international media, including the Discovery Channel and History Channel. One of his more famous concepts, the Zero Gravity Cocktail Glass Project, won international acclaim and reinvented the concept of how to drink liquids in a microgravity environment. His cocktail making-robots have been showcased on the Discovery Channel and made the cover of the Wall Street Journal. Samuel was active with the National Space Society, Space Frontier Foundation, and Yuri's Night World Space Party. In the 1990's, he worked for McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and the little-known, but historic Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X/DC-X/A) reusable rocket program. In 2004, he helped run logistics for the XPRIZE Team film crew during the historic flights of SpaceShipOne. As a regular at San Francisco Bay Area Maker Faires, Samuel worked as crew for the Steampunk art car studio known as Obtainium Works, where they built and drove dozens of whimsical fantasy vehicles for parades, shows, and Burning Man. For the Robogames hobby robotics event, Samuel built, or collaborated in building, three cocktail-making robots (drinkbots) which manage to dispense drinks to customers in hilarious and entertaining ways. Samuel also participates at the Burning Man event, where he assists artists building unique kinetic art pieces, and as a Black Rock Ranger: a volunteer first responder to assist people in need, mediate disputes, and be a liaison with police, fire, and medical teams. Using the harsh Black Rock Desert in Nevada as a space analog, he learned that the key to human survival anywhere is building lots of physical and logistical infrastructure, and also being kind to people. Since 1999, Samuel has been researching and prototyping off-world domestic concepts with the Space Tourism Society, and making presentations about potential designs to make life easier "for the rest of us" in space. This book is the culmination of years of experience in these broad fields.