We, the Kepler Space Institute Leadership, dedicate this issue of the Journal of Space Philosophy to Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)
It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.
Professor Stephen Hawking floating in Zero-G (Photo by Jim Campbell) Taken from an article, “Stephen Hawking in Zero-G,” by Peter Diamandis. See http://www.diamandis.com/blog/stephen-hawking-in-zero-g.
The source for the cover photo, of a simulated black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, showing lensing and, by implication, Hawking radiation, is Alain R. – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1150148.
