A simple station can grow...

Yes, a station like that presented by Ron Miller could continue growing into what he calls a 'space city'.

Again, this is an 80s image, and alternative timelines ("What If" scenarios) are always interesting to think about. So what if there was still superpower competition today?

No one doubts the doledrums of NASA was the 1990s, America's unipolar moment. Amazingly, as much time has elapsed since the end of the Cold War as that which elapsed from the Moon landings to the fall of the Soviet Union!