On October 4, 1957, the world was stunned by the beep-beep of the first artificial satellite. Well, maybe stunned is the wrong word, because anyone following the papers throughout the summer saw that the Soviets had announced quite candidly that they had planned to do so. It didn't take long for good ol' American know-how, … Continue reading One year after Sputnik (10-21-1958)
by Kaye Dee Just a few days ago, on July 15, NASA’s Mariner IV space probe made history by being the first spacecraft to successfully reach the planet Mars, capturing images of its surface. These are the first close-up views of another planet in our solar system and the initial pictures suggest that, despite what … Continue reading [July 20, 1965] No War of the Worlds After All? (Mariner IV reaches Mars)
by Gideon Marcus A whole new ballgame It's not often that news of the next stage in the Space Race is eclipsed by an even bigger story. Yet that's exactly what happened this tumultuous week, a handful of days so crazy that we halted publication ("STOP THE PRESSES!") to keep up with events. It all … Continue reading [Oct. 16, 1964] Three in One (The next leg of the Space Race)
By Ashley R. Pollard Looking back to October the 4th 1957 when Sputnik was launched, it’s hard to believe that only five years have passed since that fateful day when Russia beat Britain and America into space (perhaps my American readers will say that Britain had no realistic chance of getting into space first, which … Continue reading [April 22, 1962] “To ride on the curl'd clouds” (ARIEL ONE)
We are definitely not far away from a person in space. The Soviets launched another of their five-ton spaceships into orbit. We're calling it Sputnik 9; who knows what they call it? On board was just one dog this time, name of Chernushka, who was recovered successfully after an unknown number of orbits. It is … Continue reading [Mar. 10, 1961] Dog and Puppy Show (Sputnik 9)
The American manned space program is on a tight schedule if it wants to place an astronaut in orbit before the Soviets. The Communists already have a striking lead. They had it three years ago when they launched the first Sputnik, and they've maintained it with the recent Sputnik 5, which featured two Muttniks, who … Continue reading [Nov. 23, 1960] Premature Ejection (Mercury-Redstone 1)
by Gideon Marcus Professional opinion Fred Pohl opens up this month's issue of Galaxy with a summary of the letters he's received from readers on how they would, in 100 words or fewer, successfully resolve the war in Vietnam. He has great faith in the power of harnessing a bunch of smart folks to spit … Continue reading [October 8, 1968] Probing the future (November 1968 Galaxy)
by Gideon Marcus Out and in Being something of a geography buff, one of my favorite games is to go to a thrift shop and inspect their globe collection. I can generally tell what year a globe was manufactured from the configuration of countries. And while we haven't had anything like the banner year of … Continue reading [September 20, 1968] It comes and goes (October 1968 Fantasy and Science Fiction)
by Gideon Marcus There are some months where the space shots come so quickly that there's scarcely time to apprehend them all, much less report on them! Every other day, it seems, the newspaper has got a headling about this launch or that discovery, and that's before you get to the announcements about the impending … Continue reading [August 26, 1968] No time for a breath (Summer space round-up)
by Kaye Dee Despite the hiatus in manned spaceflight missions while the Apollo-1 and Soyuz-1 accident investigations continue, October has been a very busy month for space activities – so much so that I’ve had to defer writing about some of this month’s events to an article next month! Spaceflight Slowdown? 4 October saw the … Continue reading [October 28, 1967] Unveiling Venus – at Least a Little (Venera-4 and Mariner-5)
![[July 20, 1965] No War of the Worlds After All? (Mariner IV reaches Mars)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/mariner04.gif?resize=640%2C372)
![[Oct. 16, 1964] Three in One (The next leg of the Space Race)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/641016voskhod1b.jpg?resize=329%2C309)
![[October 8, 1968] Probing the future (November 1968 <i>Galaxy</i>)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/681008cover.jpg?resize=672%2C372)
![[September 20, 1968] It comes and goes (October 1968 <i>Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/680920cover.jpg?resize=651%2C372)
![[August 26, 1968] No time for a breath (Summer space round-up)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/680826essa7.jpg?resize=629%2C372)
![[October 28, 1967] Unveiling Venus – at Least a Little (Venera-4 and Mariner-5)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Venus-desert.png?resize=375%2C300)