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"I kind of take it for granted that our great-grandchildren will regard us as a sort of precursor species. That they won't think of us as human and if we could see them, we probably wouldn't think of them as human either."
- William Gibson

Orbital Factory  
  Putting manufacturing in space, orbiting the planet.  

As far as I can find, this is the first use of the phrase.

Bill Jack only half listened. They had all been through pressure suit training. A few had been in orbit before. Certainly Bill Jack had; his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex. It had been pleasant work, and Bill had enjoyed his status.
Technovelgy from Bind Your Sons To Exile, by Jerry Pournelle.
Published by Odyssey in 1976
Additional resources -

Arthur C. Clark called them orbiting factories a few years later.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Bind Your Sons To Exile
  More Ideas and Technology by Jerry Pournelle
  Tech news articles related to Bind Your Sons To Exile
  Tech news articles related to works by Jerry Pournelle

Orbital Factory-related news articles:
  - Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
  - Varda Space Industries Orbital Factories
  - Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories

Articles related to Manufacturing
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
Organic Non-Planar 3D Printing
Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories

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