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"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Joy-boat Junior | ||
| A private space yacht, capable of suborbital journeys. |
At this point in Heinlein's Future History, humanity had conquered space to the point of colonizing the Moon, Venus and Mars. A faster-than-light drive had not yet been invented; spacecraft worked in a manner similar to those in use today, in that the craft was pushed forward by throwing mass the other way as fast as possible.
Lazarus Long was on a large ship in orbit, when a smaller craft locked on to a port - somewhat unexpectedly.
| Why, the ship wasn't a proper deep-space craft at all. It did not have an airlock but merely a seal to let it fasten to a larger ship; Lazarus was staring right into the body of the craft. It looked like - yes, it was a "Joy-boat Junior," a little private strato-yacht, suitable only for point-to-point trajectory, or at the most for rendezvous with a satellite provided the satellite could refuel it for the return leg. |
| Technovelgy from Methuselah's Children,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
In the novel, wealthy individuals owned their own small spacecraft in the same way that wealthy individuals today own Lear jets. Once you filed a flight plan at your space field (and "cut through the red tape of interplanetary travel"), you were free to go wherever your craft could take you.
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and Technology from Methuselah's Children
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Tech news articles related to Methuselah's Children
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Joy-boat Junior-related
news articles:
- SpaceShipOne - The First Strato-Yacht?
- SpaceX Dragon To Land On Any Planet
- SpaceX Dragon First Private Craft To Dock With ISS
- Orion's 'Skip-to-M'Lou' Entry
| Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message |
| China Wants To Build Mega Space Ships |
| Dream Of Building Your Own Rocket? |
| Used Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Will Fly Again |
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
