User blog comment:Tanooki1432/The Questions of the Age (Warning! May result in Nerd Rage!)/@comment-217683-20100816071105

Whether you think them unrealistic or not, suspension of disbelief applies. We've seen them, so in their fictional universes (which carries over to this 'debate'), they are realistic. And remember, we've pretty much handled at least one of those problems. Heating hasn't been an issue for spacecraft since way back in 1961. I'm pretty sure that if the Soviets were able to figure it out in the '60s, most sci-fi governments should also be able to handle it. :)