Rocket to Luna

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For the technical information on the three-stage rocket and the Space Station, I am grateful to and have relied upon figures taken from Man Will Conquer Space Soon, a symposium published in Collier’s magazine, March 22, 1952, and subsequently published in expanded form by The Viking Press under the title Across the Space Frontier.

My thanks, too, to Arthur C. Clarke, who graciously answered several tricky questions about the Moon.

R. M.

Man will someday leave the Earth. No one witnessing the marvels of today’s science can really seriously doubt this mild premise. As certain as Man learned to cross the seas, as certain as he learned to build wings with which he left the ground, he will leave the Earth for Space.

The question then is not, “Will he?”

It is, “When will he?”

This story is set thirty years in the future. The date is 1983, and Man is attempting his first trip to the Moon. By that time, the Space Station described in the following chapters should be a reality. In fact, thirty years seems like an outside guess in view of the amazing strides science has taken in the past decade.

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