Un minuto en la cuarta dimensión

# "Un Minuto en la Cuarta Dimensión" by Ralph Barby

This science fiction novella, part of the Spanish La Conquista del Espacio collection (issue 373), depicts the 2002 launch of the "Saturn XX" rocket from Cape Kennedy. Commander Karl Sheridan (American), Colonel Michel Divalié (French), and cosmonaut Nacha Kavanova (Soviet) embark on Project Galaxia 13—a mission to Jupiter with a technical lunar stopover. Sheridan is an experienced space pilot; Divalié, a radioastronomer specializing in laser engineering; Kavanova, an expert in color 3D television photography, daughter of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Before boarding, tensions emerge between Sheridan's casual observations about Kavanova's appearance and her assertion of professional equality. Divalié mediates their friction. As they ascend the launch platform 470 feet high, Kavanova experiences a troubling premonition of something unusual occurring during the voyage, which she conceals from mission control. The narrative emphasizes the international cooperation of spaceflight while chronicling pre-launch preparations and crew psychology.