Because of its broad evolutionary perspective and its focus on both technology and culture, anthropology offers a unique view of why we are going into space and what leaving Earth will mean for humanity. In addition, anthropology could help in the humanization of space through (1) overcoming socioculture barriers to working and living in space, (2) designing societies appropriate for permanent space settlement, (3) promoting understanding among differentiated branches of humankind scattered through space, (4) deciphering the cultural systems of any extraterrestrial civilizations contacted.
