Earth (circa 2015)

Seveneves' opening chapters are set on present-day Earth; before, during, and after the so-called Agent disintegrates the Moon. The reader is introduced to Dr. Dubois, Rufus MacQuarie, President Flaherty, Tavistock Prowse, Moira Crewe, and others whose lives are forever altered by the cosmic disaster.

International Space Station (ISS; aka "Izzy")

Izzy is the Hub of the Cloud Ark Swarm project to preserve humankind after the destruction of Earth's surface by super-heated lunar debris. The ISS is a real-world place, and author Stephenson chronicles its ever-expanding properties by a global collective of engineers, astronauts, cosmonauts, taikonauts, space workers and bureaucrats, in astonishing detail. The ISS evolves into the Cloud Ark Swarm and, after merging with an icy comet, Endurance, which ultimately reaches Cleft, a Grand Canyon-like region in a large moon remnant. It is here that the Seven Eves begin the work that sustains humankind for 5,000 years and...