Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Win A Trip To Outer Space!!!
In Robert Heinlein's 1958 novel Have Space Suit, Will Travel, a high school senior can't believe his eyes when his father shows him a contest announcement at breakfast:
(Cover art from Have Space Suit, Will Travel first edition)
Dad looked over his paper at me. "Clifford, here's something in your line..."It was a soap ad.
It announced that tired old gimmick, a gigantic super-colossal prize contest. This one promised a thousand prizes down to a last hundred, each of which was a year's supply of Skyway Soap.
Then I spilled cornflakes in my lap. The first prize was -
"- AN ALL-EXPENSE TRIP TO THE MOON!!!" That's the way it read, with three exclamation points - only to me there were a dozen, with bursting bombs and a heavenly choir.
Well, hold on to your cornflakes. It turns out that Gillette has a similar contest going on right now.
Ordinary space-crazy youngsters (well, anyone 18 or older) can enter Gillette's Hitch a Ride to Outer Space contest and win a sub-orbital space flight.
(View from space on a Space Adventures flight)
The first (and only) prize of a sub-orbital flight will be provided by Space Adventures. After a flight to the Space Adventures spaceport at Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE and three days of training, you will receive the following:
In an unprecedented sensory experience, rocket engines boost you beyond the normal limits of flight to regions above 62 miles (100 kilometers) - where space begins. After the engines shutdown, you will experience up to five minutes of continuous weightlessness, all the while gazing at the vast blackness of space and the blue horizon of the Earth below.
Not quite a trip to the moon, but it sounds cool to me. And even better - you can keep your space suit as a memento of your trip.
Heinlein would be so pleased.
There's only one catch - only Canadian citizens can enter. That's right; universal health care and free trips to space. It's just not fair.
Read more about Heinlein's ideas and inventions, books and stories and Heinlein ideas come to life. Gaze longingly at the Gillette Hitch A Ride to Outer Space registration site; thanks to Edward Willett for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/25/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.' George Lucas, 1976.
Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now
'...the spot was a lonely one in an uncharted region, far from the normal lanes of space traffic.' - Arthur William Bernal (1935)
Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...' Arthur C. Clarke, 1978.
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
Love those special edition spaceships.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
Robot Gas Station Attendant Pumps Gas For You
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
