 First edition | |
| Author | Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey Hoyle |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1963 |
| Media type | Print (book) |
| Pages | 224 |
Fifth Planet is a science fiction novel written by astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle and his son Geoffrey Hoyle. [1]
Another star is due to pass close to the sun, close enough for conventional spacecraft to reach it. The first planets observed are four gas giants, but then an inner "Fifth Planet" is found. Signs of chlorophyll are detected, suggesting that it supports life. Rival Soviet and US expeditions are launched to visit it. (The world balance as it existed in 1963 is assumed to be still in place.)
The theme of the novel is embodied in a conversation between two of the US spacecraft's crew as they begin exploring the new planet, which appears to have a benign and predominantly grassy environment. One of them feels uneasy in this landscape and suggests a similarity of their position to fish in a pond on earth "swimming around thinking fishy thoughts". The crew member comments "Well, what if we're like those bloody fish, swimming about our own little pond, and not knowing something else is very near us." Soon after these remarks are made, an alien influence starts to manifest itself.
One element of the plot is that the Soviet expedition includes the first woman in space. This fictional milestone was eclipsed by reality soon after publication, when Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on Vostok 6 in June 1963.
Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term coined by him on BBC radio, and his promotion of panspermia as the origin of life on Earth. He also wrote science fiction novels, short stories and radio plays, and co-authored twelve books with his son, Geoffrey Hoyle. He spent most of his working life at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge and served as its director for six years.
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo. All spacecraft except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle.
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story by Allen Adler and Irving Block. It stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, it is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain analogues to the play, leading many to consider it a loose adaptation.
Solaris is a 1961 science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. It follows a crew of scientists on a research station as they attempt to understand an extraterrestrial intelligence, which takes the form of a vast ocean on the titular alien planet. The novel is one of Lem's best-known works.
Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflight operates either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs, with currently the International Space Station as the main destination of human spaceflight missions while China's Tiangong Space Station is under construction.
Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale is a science fiction novel by the Soviet writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov, written in 1955–1956 and published in 1957. It was translated into English as Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by George Hanna. The novel predicted some future inventions. It was made into a film in 1967, The Andromeda Nebula.
Eden is a 1958 social science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. It was first published in 1958 in issues 211-271 of the newspaper Trybuna Robotnicza. The first book edition was in 1959. It was first published in English in 1989 (ISBN 0-15-127580-7).
The World's Last Night and Other Essays is a collection of essays by C. S. Lewis published in the United States in 1960. The title essay is about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The volume also contains a follow-up to Lewis' 1942 novel The Screwtape Letters in the form of "Screwtape Proposes a Toast." The second, fourth and fifth pieces were published in the U.K. in a volume called Screwtape Proposes a Toast and other pieces (1965); the first, sixth and seventh were published in the U.K. in Fern-seed and Elephants and other essays on Christianity (1975). All the pieces were later collected in the comprehensive Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces (2000).
The fictional portrayal of the Solar System has often included planets, moons, and other celestial objects which do not actually exist in reality. Some of these objects were, at one time, seriously considered as hypothetical planets which were either thought to have been observed, or were hypothesized to be orbiting the Sun in order to explain certain celestial phenomena. Often such objects continued to be used in literature long after the hypotheses upon which they were based had been abandoned.
Milcząca Gwiazda, literal English translation The Silent Star, is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel The Astronauts by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem. It was directed by Kurt Maetzig, and stars Günther Simon, Julius Ongewe and Yoko Tani. The film was first released by Progress Film in East Germany, running 93 min. Variously dubbed and cut versions were also released in English under other titles: First Spaceship on Venus, Planet of the Dead, and Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply.
Geoffrey Hoyle is an English science fiction writer, best known for the works which he co-wrote with his father, the astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle. About half of Fred Hoyle's science fiction works were co-written with his son.
Kjell Norwood Lindgren is an American astronaut who was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 44/45 on July 22, 2015.
Half a Life is a collection of science fiction short stories by Russian novelist Kir Bulychev.
Ikarie XB-1 is a 1963 Czechoslovak science fiction film directed by Jindřich Polák. It is based loosely on the novel The Magellanic Cloud, by Stanisław Lem. The film was released in the United States, edited and dubbed into English, under the title Voyage to the End of the Universe.
The Mars Project is a 1952 non-fiction scientific book by the German rocket physicist, astronautics engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun. It was translated from the original German by Henry J. White and first published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953.
Humans as Gods is a 1966–1977 science fiction trilogy by Soviet author Sergey Snegov. Despite being initially intended as a parody on space opera, mythological and religious cliché, the novels embody a complex set of ideas on the fundamental principles of the world's structure and development, and the directions of the civilizations' possible future. While a number of plot elements seem to be taken from general science fiction concepts, the resulting story may be considered unique in many ways. The central conflicts are based on the assumption that the face of super-civilization must be defined by its comprehension of the Universe as a whole: the understanding of its elementary, most basic laws.
Nebo Zovyot is a Soviet science-fiction feature film, produced by Aleksandr Kozyr and Mikhail Karyukov, and filmed at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in 1959.
The Haunted Stars is a science fiction novel by American writer Edmond Hamilton. It tells the story of an expedition from Earth to a planet of the star Altair — a planet called Ryn, inhabited by humans like those on Earth. Against the wishes of Ryn's inhabitants, the team from Earth seek information about weapons technology used in an ancient space war. Their unsuccessful search ends in dramatic contact with another species, the ancient enemy of Ryn.
The Throne of Saturn is a 1971 science fiction/political novel by Allen Drury that explores the preparations for a near-future crewed mission to the planet Mars.