Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Landing Legs | ||
| Projections from the base of a space craft that allow it to land upright in gravity. |
This is a very early use of the phrase "landing legs" in science fiction, although it was probably a generation old in engineering, particularly for helicopters.
| AS the Suleiman Agate bolted down, as the telescoping landing-legs (the tip of each one being a rotary rock-drill) bit down and fastened solidly in the ground, standing the big ship at ninety degrees straightaway, Jack Ardway made his way up the companionway. The corridor had been the droptube, but it had been shut down to allow more power for the landing thrust. He pulled himself along, slipping and losing his balance, and finally opened the loktite at pilot’s country. |
| Technovelgy from No Planet Is Safe,
by Harlan Ellison. Published by Super Science Fiction in 1958 Additional resources -
|
Another example of this phrase found in A Dish of Devils by James Goddard, published in Science Fantasy in 1964:
Compare to the splashdown from From the Earth to the Moon (1867) by Jules Verne,
landing arms from Creatures of the Comet (1931) by Edmond Hamilton,
landing stage from Atomic Fire (1931) by Raymond Z. Gallun,
landing cradle from The Radium World (1932) by Frank K. Kelly,
landing on an asteroid from Murder on the Asteroid (1933) by Eando Binder,
docking-cradle from They Never Came Back (1941) by Fritz Leiber,
landing-grid from Sand Doom (1955) by Murray Leinster,
landing pit from The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester and
launching cradle from Needler (1957) by Gordon Randall Garrett.
The noise rose and rose; he could not keep it out even though he kept his hands tight over his ears. The base of the ship started to glow with a brilliant white light, and then the whole structure began to rise slowly from the ground. When it was about a hundred feet up the landing-legs folded in telescopically and the ship shot upwards at such a fantastic speed that Hob’s eye could not follow it, straight over the very pale half-moon that was just clear of the eastern horizon.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from No Planet Is Safe
More Ideas
and Technology by Harlan Ellison
Tech news articles related to No Planet Is Safe
Tech news articles related to works by Harlan Ellison
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
