When Luna's crew find out that their atomic-powered rocket ship will not be allowed to make America's first-ever flight to the moon, the three men decide to take off immediately, before government bureaucrats can stop them. With the help of an engineer they convince to come along, the four men blast off on a tough and dangerous voyage, overcoming near-insuperable odds to reach and land on the moon.
Robert A. Heinlein's story "Destination Moon" became a sensation after the movie DESTINATION MOON, directed by Irving Pichel, produced by George Pal, set designs by the great artist Chesley Bonestell and with Heinlein as collaborator on the screenplay, was released in 1950. The movie and Heinlein's story inspired generations of space enthusiasts, engineers, astronauts, science fiction writers, and all those who dream of mankind's future among the stars.
Here is Robert A. Heinlein's classic story "Destination Moon" as well as the author's article "Shooting 'Destination Moon' ", first published in the July 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. As Heinlein remarked, "The problem of shooting a movie of a space flight is not simply one of getting a good story. Doing the job is a technical assignment darned near as tough as making the flight itself!"
"Not only America's premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world."
- Stephen King
"There is no other writer whose work has exhilarated me as often and to such an extent as Heinlein."
- Dean Koontz
"One of the most influential writers in American Literature."
- The New York Times Book Review
"Heinlein wears imagination as though it were his private suit of clothes."
- The New York Times
"Heinlein… has the ability to see technologies just around the bend. That, combined with his outstanding skill as a writer and engineer-inventor, produces books that are often years ahead of their time."
- The Philadelphia Inquirer
"One of the grand masters of science fiction."
- The Wall Street Journal
about the author:
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), often called the Science Fiction Grand Master, was the author of such ground-breaking novels as STARSHIP TROOPERS, RED PLANET, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. He is generally considered the greatest and most influential science fiction writer of the twentieth century. In addition to being a bestselling author, Heinlein's novels won 4 Hugo awards, 3 "retro Hugo" awards, and the first "Grand Master Award" from the Science Fiction Writers of America. www.virginiaedition.com, http://heinleinarchives.net
