APRIL10, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 14

Visions 21: Space

ALSO IN TIME COVER: Space Visions of the 21st Century -- The Final Frontier has long captured our imaginations. We explore how the coming century will push its boundaries back CAMBODIA: Blind Justice Relatives of those murdered by the Khmer Rouge fear that a proposed tribunal will let former guerrilla leaders walk free CHINA: Dotcommiebashing An official chat room is one of the country's liveliest forums INDIA: Brand Kargil Advertisers look to make money from patriotic fervor BASEBALL: Play Ball! America's National Pastime opens its season in, gasp, Tokyo • We're Outta Here: The trickle of Asian exports to the U.S. big leagues could soon become a flood • Extended Interview: Kazuhiro Sasaki, Japan's most accomplished relief pitcher CULTURE: Urban Warfare Beijing and Shanghai are spending millions to vie for bragging rights as China's cultural capital TRAVEL WATCH: Afoot and Afloat, Kerala Is Worth the Journey

Is there anything more challenging, more exciting, than our endeavor to explore and understand the cosmos? Though it's unlikely to happen during our lifetimes, it now seems clear that one day we will travel to other solar systems. Can't wait? Well, as a consolation some of us may be living on Mars--within a generation. If an asteroid doesn't kill us all first, of course. And maybe, just maybe, we will encounter extraterrestrial life.

In this, the latest installment of TIME's big questions for the 21st century, we focus on some of the great unsolved riddles of space. Our journey is necessarily brief--we don't have enough fuel to travel more than 25 years or so into the future. But our guides are patient and remarkably lucid. We come back excited by how much can be foretold--about space travel, life on other planets and the quest to discover a parallel universe--and humbled by how much is yet unknown.

Will We Live on Mars?

Will We Travel to the Stars?

Will We Meet E.T.?

Will a Killer Asteroid Hit the Earth?

How Will the Universe End?

Will We Discover Another Universe?


Visit the TIME.com Visions 21 site to have all these questions answered

Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com