Conceived as a self-sustaining laboratory mimicking Earth’s ecology and resources, Biosphere 2 was a massive geodesic enclosure built in Arizona. In 1991 it hosted an eight-person crew of “biospherians” for a two-year experiment. Amid fanfare and scrutiny, the project aimed to demonstrate that humans could maintain facsimiles of Earth’s biomes and to produce sufficient research to allow for biospheres to be inhabited on other planets should the need arise. Surprisingly, though aptly, many of the principal minds behind the project had met and found inspiration decades earlier in a Bay Area commune. Guided by charismatic and dynamic leader John Allen, the group had practiced their peculiar but impressive brand of enterprising bliss across the globe for years before the Biosphere 2 project and were uniquely prepared—though some would say unqualified—for the “terranaut” challenge. Part science fiction, part co-op, and an inadvertent precursor to reality television, the experiment yielded unexpected results both inside and outside the bubble.  TM