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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
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| Osprey Space Armor | ||
| Space suit you can live in. |
Very early description of having a space suit that almost substitutes for a space ship. Look through the other items from this story, particularly the asteroid rocket to see the slapdash style of the earliest "belters"!
| His "planet" was the smallest in the solar system, and the loneliest,
Thad Allen was thinking, as he straightened wearily in the huge,
bulging, inflated fabric of his Osprey space armor. Walking awkwardly
in the magnetic boots that held him to the black mass of meteoric
iron, he mounted a projection and stood motionless, staring moodily
away through the vision panels of his bulky helmet into the dark
mystery of the void...
He drew his right arm out of the bulging sleeve of the suit, into its ample interior, found a cigarette in an inside pocket, and lighted it. The smoke swirled about in the helmet, drawn swiftly into the air filters. "Darn clever, these suits," he murmured. "Food, smokes, water generator, all where you can reach them. And darned expensive, too. I'd better be looking for pay metal!"
 (Osprey Space Armor from 'Salvage in Space') |
| Technovelgy from Salvage in Space,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding Stories in 1933 Additional resources -
|
Here's a bit more detail:
Be sure to read the entry for rocket motor from this same story to understand the minimalist "space ship" that Williamson envisions for his hero.
Fans of Larry Niven remember the belter world from At the Bottom of a Hole (1966) by Larry Niven.
Compare to the early reference to the phrase space suit from The Emperor of the Stars (1931) by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat). Also the pneumatic suit from The Shot Into Infinity (1929) by Otto Willi Gail. Also in Edison's Conquest of Mars, an 1898 novel by Garrett P. Serviss; see this article on air-tight dress. Also, see the somewhat less formal space overalls from Lost Rocket, a short story by Manly Wade Wellman.
Also, compare to vacuum armor from Skylark Three (1930) by Doc Smith,
space-armor from Revolt of the Star Men (1932) by Raymond Z Gallun,
Dirigible Space Armor (Working Space Suits) from Collision Orbit (1941) by Jack Williamson, and
space armor from Cities in Flight (1957) by James Blish.
He still wore his Osprey-suit. The
heavy fabric, made of metal wires impregnated with a tough, elastic
composition...
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Salvage in Space
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Williamson
Tech news articles related to Salvage in Space
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
Osprey Space Armor-related
news articles:
- The Space Suit As Personal Spaceship
- A Space Ship On My Back
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
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'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
