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Fugitives From Earth by Nelson S. Bond:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas
Intriguing story if read in context, about a year before the United States was drawn into WWII. Also, here is an interesting quote about spaceships, a prediction of a kind, which we have still not managed:
"Traveling from one planet to another," explained Dr. Wrenn, "is not
merely a matter of leaping across the
void. In calculating our flight to Venus,
we directed our ship not toward the
planet itself, but toward that point in
space where Venus would be in tweny*
one weeks' time.
"We did this with due allowance for
initial velocity, momentum in frictionless space, and gravitational attraction
of both planets involved, as well as that
of the Sun.
"Unfortunately, circumstances forced
us to defy our calculations. Thus we
are proceeding toward Venus too fast.
It is my fear that we may reach our
rendezvous in space before Venus comes
near enough that point to grasp us in
her gravitational clutch."
Hank said, frowning, "Then we must
slow down somehow!"
"Easier said than done, Hank. Oh,
there may come a day, in the future,
when men will build spaceships that
will curve, wheel, disport themselves
in the void as modern planes do in the
air. But we are the pioneers of space
flight — and we do not know how to do
these things.
"We can curve our path — slightly.
But for the most part, we are like a
bullet a huntsman has fired from his
gun. We have established a trajectory
and a speed. The rest is in the guidance of universal mechanics."
Select
an invention:
Permalloy Protects ships from the hazards of space.
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