Spaceship Earth is a metaphor which suggests that the earth is a small, vulnerable craft in space.

Adlai Stevenson used the metaphor in his presidential campaign speeches during the 1950s, but it is not clear who originated it. Perhaps R. Buckminster Fuller was most responsible for popularizing it; he wrote a book entitled Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth and was described by one biographer as the ship's "pilot." Fuller was impressed by how negligible the craft was in the infinity of the universe, how fast it was flying, and how well it had been "designed" to support life.

Fuller took the metaphor further, noting that what interested him about the earth was "that it is a mechanical vehicle, just as is an automobile." He noted that people are quick to service their automobiles and keep them in running condition but that "we have not been seeing...