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"The way you write science fiction is: you sit down at your writing machine and you open your mind to the first thought that comes through."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| 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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and Technology from Space Flotsam
More Ideas
and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
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Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
| Capturing Asteroids With Nets |
| Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed! |
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'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
