Word: planet
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Evading the technological mumbo jumbo of most spacemen of letters, Author Bradbury concentrates instead on the post-atomic-war homesickness of displaced Earthlings, or the pioneering wonder of planet hopping. An unexpected religiosity mars several of these tales and suggests that science fiction may be catering to a new brand of heresy ("If there's any way to get hold of that immortality men are always talking about, this is the way-spread out-seed the universe...
...delicate to pay their way in the space vehicles of the near future. Instruments will do much better with far less demand for accommodation. Best of all, the black boxes need not get home alive. If they have radioed their findings back to earth, they can vaporize in a planet's atmosphere or wander into space never to return...
...Planets. Nearest planet to the earth is Venus. It is about as big as the earth and has an atmosphere, but it seems even less attractive as real estate than the airless, sun-seared moon. Its atmosphere is so cloudy that outsiders, peering from the earth, can see only its slightly yellowish cloud deck, which sometimes shows faint, impermanent markings...
...under its clouds is covered with lush jungles. Earthside plants need carbon dioxide, but their flourishing presence on earth is the reason why the earth's modern atmosphere contains only a trace of CO2. This abundance of carbon dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere is excellent proof that the planet has no earthlike plants...
...simplest kind of instrumented space probe can gather much valuable information without landing on the moon or a planet. A picture of the back of the moon is one of the easiest prizes. Interplanetary space is by no means empty. It contains a very thin gas of unknown composition, and through it a "wind" of high-speed particles blows outward from the sun. This wind may be dangerous; it should be studied carefully before manned ships are launched deeply into space...