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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Space Mittens | ||
| Protect your hands in space. |
As Khan Noonien Singh says in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982), it is very cold in space.
So, be sure to wear your mittens!
| Fumbling feverishly, his fingers impeded by his space mittens, he loosened the straps which bound his magnetic boots to his feet. |
| Technovelgy from Space Flotsam,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1934 Additional resources -
|
Surprisingly, this is not a one-off use of this phrase. In his 1939 story The Luck of Ignatz (1939), Lester Del Rey used it:
Gallun uses it again in Coffins to Mars (1950), published in Thrilling Wonder Stories:
“Star-shaped," she said. “Just regular snowflakes. Of course it has to be — here or any place. Out to the farthest Earth-like planet in the farthest galaxy." Then she laughed — with real pleasure. “I hardly believe it — on Mars !” she added.
Compare to hinged space suit mittens from The Bluff of the Hawk (1932) by Anthony Gilmore.
Jerry was rocking on his heels, cursing the heat with every labored breath. He wore ice packs on every safe place, and still couldn’t keep cool. The blowers were working again, keeping a steady current of air moving, but the air was hot. Under the Master’s shoes were heavy pads of rubberoid, and he wore stiff space mittens on his hands, but still the heat came through from the hot floor and control rods. A few more degrees would spell the limit.
That was when, from a thin pearly veil of cloud from the Pole, a few fine dry flakes drifted down. Joan caught two on the palms of her space mittens. She stared at them wonderingly, as if they were a part of home, as if they didn't belong here at this distance from Earth at all.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Space Flotsam
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Tech news articles related to Space Flotsam
Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
| SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing |
| Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction |
| NASA Moonbase Update |
| The Solar Oberth Slingshot |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
