The topic at hand is that of the inspiration for creating the original Gundam universe, as well as the philosophy, science fiction and plain old science behind it. I have never read an interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino on the subject, so I have no idea if some of these are actual influences on Gundam...
Back in the '70s, NASA was investing some time and money into researching space habitats. Many papers were, indeed, written on the subject, with the seminal book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space by Gerard K. O'Neill, as well as Colonies in Space by T.A. Heppenheimer.
We know that Tomino was familiar with O'Neill's habitats, as they feature very promently throughout his original Gundam setting. Moreover, it is pretty clear that Tomino was familiar with the reasoning behind Space Colonisation, a goal which NASA recognises as its ultimate goal to this day. The website Gundam: The High Frontier is, indeed, a very authoritative source which shows just how intricately planned the world of the Universal Century truly was.
What surprised me, however, is that I found a quote by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky which was paraphrased, quite often, in Zeta Gundam by everyone's favorite red-suited pilot, Char Aznable. Tsiolkovsky was a scientist who worked for both Imperial Russia as well as the Soviet regime, mainly in rocketry and astronautics, being one of many pioneers in this field. Tsiolkovsky broke a lot of ground, calculating how to put a manned craft in orbit, creating the idea of the space elevator and was an early advocate for space colonisation. He died in 1935, so that gives you an idea of the kind of visionary he was.
At any rate, the quote in question:
"Man must at all costs overcome the Earth's gravity and have, in reserve, the space at least of the Solar System."
Indeed, that quote would not look out of place as part of an AEUG press release. Char himself often talks about Earthnoids having "souls dragged down by gravity". Moreover, during the Dakar speech (based on the US dub), Char states:
"From the dawn of history, mankind has played in this cradle called Earth. But now, humanity must leave the nursery behind. Our infancy has come to its end."
Compare with another quote by Tsiolkovsky:
"The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever."
I don't know if Tomino read any of Tsiolkovsky's treatises. I dare say he perhaps read of them in other, more contemporary books on space colonisation. But he obviously did proper research if he stumbled across Tsiolkovsky's philosophies.
The Newtype issue is also included in this, mostly related to how Tsiolkovsky's ideas were influenced by Russian philosopher, Nikolai Fyodorov. This philosopher postulated the idea that humankind could only evolve through artificial means, and was a very early advocate of transhumanism (he died in 1903). In Fyodorov's view (oversimplifying a bit here), humans ought to achieve immortality by scientific means, proceeding then to embark on the resurrection of all humans who have passed away, as their life experiences are lost with death.
Tsiolkovsky's spin on Fyodorov's ideas was that the advancement of humans towards immortality and full freedom from the mortal coil would come about by moving to space. Needless to say, this is the philosophy extolled by Zeon Daikun in the Universal Century, and is indeed the basis for the idea of Newtypes in that universe. At least, for the philosophy regarding Newtypes. Tomino becomes very cynical after the first Gundam series, and proceeds to shoot down the idea that there is any hope to be had in Newtypes...
That's all I have for now, I welcome any corrections, additions, questions, answers, etcetera. But no flames
