After Aleksey Leonov became the first man to walk on the moon, the Soviet government embarked on a huge space program the likes of which the world had never seen. By 1983 there was a permanent human presence on the moon, and in 1984 the first manned mission to Mars was sent from a Soviet lunar base.
Other nations soon followed in Russia's footsteps, as humans slowly began to colonise the solar system. In the present day, eight countries on Earth have a permanent presence on three other planets in the solar system (four if the moons of Jupiter are counted as a presence on Jupiter). On the moon there is a permanent population of around 98,000 people spread across eleven settlements.
Below is a list of nations which have a permanent presence in space.
N.B. The list does not include non-permanent colonies and abandoned colonies. Colonies in planetary or lunar orbit (space stations) are listed as being on the moon or planet they are in orbit around.
Great Britain[]
- McLennan Base (Moon - military outpost, scientific usage)
- Smith Territory (Moon - uncolonised/mined for resources)
- Lunar Estates (Moon - colony)
- Jakobsland Territory (Mars - colony, scientific usage and military outpost)
- Olympus Mons point (Mars - tourist outpost)
- New Brighton (Venus - colony)
- Other (Asteroids - mined for resources)
USSR[]
- V I Lenin Military Base (Moon - military outpost, scientific usage)
- Trotsky Military Base (Moon - military outpost)
- Ulyarov Colony (Moon - colony and military outpost)
- Lunagrad (Moon - colony and tourist outpost)
- Kolyanov Land (Moon - colony and mined for resources)
- Marxgrad (Mars - colony, military outpost and tourist outpost)
- Gorbachev Military Base (Mars - military outpost, scientific usage and mined for resources)
- Kamenevsgrad (Venus - colony, scientific usage)
- Mobilbygrad (Mercury - under construction/colony)
- Other (Various asteroids - mined for resources)
China[]
- Xiaoping Territories (Moon - colony, military outpost, tourist outpost, mined for resources)
- Huǒxīng 1 (Mars - colony, military outpost and tourist outpost)
- Huǒxīng 2 (Mars - mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Other (Various asteroids - mined for resources)
India[]
- Shankaracharya 1 (Moon - colony, mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Shankaracharya 2 (Moon - military outpost)
- Abani Mukherjee Colony (Mars - colony, mined for resources)
- Other (Three asteroids - mined for resources)
USA[]
Privately owned colonies
- Space X - Moonbase Alpha (Moon - colony, tourist outpost, mined for resources)
- Space X - Moonbase Beta (Moon - colony, tourist outpost, mined for resources)
- Space X/Boeing (joint ownership) - Moonbase Gamma (Moon - mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Boeing - Lunar Territory (Moon - mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Virgin Galactic - Branson 1 (Moon - tourist outpost, mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Space X - Martian Colony One (Mars - colony, tourist outpost, mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Space X - Martian Colony Two (Mars - under construction/colony, tourist outpost)
- Virgin Galactic - Branson 2 (Mars - tourist outpost, mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Space X - SkyCity One (Venus - under construction/colony, tourist outpost)
- Space X/Boeing (joint ownership) - other (Various asteroids - mined for resources, scientific usage)
State owned colonies
- Neil Armstrong Lunar Base (Moon - military outpost, mined for resources, scientific usage)
- Franklin D Roosevelt Base (Mars - military outpost, scientific usage)
- John F Kennedy Floating Base (Venus - under construction/military outpost, scientific usage)