Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 108: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The way to the Planets by A. E. ROY, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.A.S., F.B.LS. 9—Our Nearest Neighbour T IS A FORTUNATE MATTER | for the future of spaceflight that the Earth possesses a nearby neighbour, the Moon, on which man can build his first extra-terrestrial base. The nearest planet, Venus, is one hundred times as far as the Moon, on its closest ap- proach, even if a spaceship could move in a direct line between the Venusian orbit and the Earth’s. As it is, it is extremely unlikely that the first planet-to-planet orbit will be of this form, but will consist of the fuel-saving el- liptic orbit that touches the two planetary orbits at its perihelion and aphelion. This means a trip of some 280,000,000 miles, lasting some 250 days, instead of the comparatively small 240,000 mile lunar journey, lasting five days. We shall see later, too, that interplanetary travel from a lunar base may be far more advantageous than from 107 the vicinity of the Earth, since the propellants necessary may, in time, be mined on the Moon. Again, the problems of land- ing on an airless planet will be the first requiring solution by the first manned expedition to touch down on the Moon. Finally, the expedition will be approaching the heavenly body of which most is known. Now, just what is known about the Moon? We will summarise briefly in this ar- ticle the present state of knowledge about our satellite for, by doing so, many of the problems facing the construc- tion of alunar base will become obvious. I have just said that the Moon is the best-known of our neighbours in space, and that is undoubtedly true, but from another viewpoint the Moon is the Cinderella of the skies, being neglected, espe- cially in the present century, by the professional astrono- comiclooks.comn