What does the East India Company have to do with Mars? How can the failures of Soviet mining towns inform the design of self-governing space habitats? Throughout the semester, students explored historical case studies and drew surprising connections between Earth’s past and the governance, labor systems, and social structures of imagined space settlements. These research stories highlight specific insights that stood out—some strange, some sobering, some even hopeful—and reflect on how history might guide the futures we build beyond our planet.