Does anyone know of any good hard science fiction that deals with such "first generation of space exploration" themes?
This might be way off base, but something like the future East India Company of space, where corporations end up colonizing planets and asteroids and get immensely wealthy and powerful in the process.
This might be way off base, but something like the future East India Company of space, where corporations end up colonizing planets and asteroids and get immensely wealthy and powerful in the process.