 First edition | |
| Author | Allen Drury |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political/Science fiction novel |
| Published | 1971 Doubleday |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 588 pages |
| LCCN 73-138928 | |
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. [1]
The novel's title comes from a quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam which appears as the book's epigraph. The book, one of Drury's longest and most complex, deals with a wide range of issues, including race, bureaucratic infighting, the role of the press, the effects of fame, and the way that Presidents behave. Drury speaks of his research into the space program in the foreword. The nature of the program, and the kinds of employees attracted to it, form the backbone of the story. Specifically political characters are important, but mainly shown in the way their actions affect the program. It was Drury's second novel to prominently feature a gay character after Advise and Consent . [2] [3] In this book, he deals with homophobia and unrequited love.
Drury, a staunch anti-Communist, believed most Americans were naive about the dangers of the Soviet-led communist threat to undermine the government of the United States. [4] The Throne of Saturn depicts a renewed Space Race to reach Mars during which both Soviet and domestic enemies of the United States work to thwart, and possibly destroy, the American mission. [1] Drury wrote the book in 1969 and 1970 while living in Maitland, Florida. [5]
In the late 1970s, an American spy satellite discovers Soviet preparations for a crewed mission to Mars, causing NASA to accelerate its existing plans for "Planetary Fleet One" (aka "Piffy One"), which is to be commanded by experienced astronaut Conrad "Connie" Trasker. NASA enrages many liberal opinion-makers and members of the media by naming a crew for the mission which does not include Dr. J. V. Halleck, the only black member of the astronaut corps, or Jazz Weickert, a longtime astronaut who is a darling of the news media but unpopular in the Astronaut Office. A protest at Kennedy Space Center organized by Clete O'Donnell, a labor leader who is secretly a Communist agent, results in an astronaut losing a leg to a bomb blast. Under intense political pressure, the U.S. president forces NASA to place Weickert and Halleck on the crew and invites the Soviets to participate in the mission.
Training begins with the new crew, somewhat hampered by Halleck's resentment toward the other astronauts, who he assumes have racist attitudes toward him. The fourth member of the crew, Dr. Pete Balkis, harbors romantic feelings for his close friend Trasker, who (though married) is attracted to Halleck's wife, Monetta. In Geneva, a U.S./Soviet conference on space cooperation collapses. Weickert suggests to his crewmates that their spacecraft should be armed in case of Soviet attack. Halleck leaks the fact that NASA is considering arming the mission to Percy Mercy, an influential magazine editor, forcing NASA to hold a press conference at which Halleck makes clear that he disagrees with his crewmates on the arming proposal. Andy Anderson, the NASA Administrator, decides to remove Halleck from the crew, but the President forces NASA to reinstate him and denies the request to arm the spacecraft. Halleck's ferocious reaction to his temporary removal causes Monetta to leave him and begin a brief affair with Trasker. Meanwhile, the spy satellite reveals that the Soviets have accelerated their launch preparations, causing the U.S. to move its own launch up by two months.
During the rollout of Planetary Fleet One's three Saturn Vs at Kennedy Space Center, five people with press badges attempt to destroy the rockets with guns and bombs, but are restrained by reporters and security. Shortly before the launch, the Soviets send a crewed spacecraft toward the Moon from their orbiting space station. A protest in the VIP viewing section on the day of the launch turns violent when a mob attacks the President and vice-president; they are unhurt, but Clete O'Donnell, leading the demonstration, is killed by his own bomb. Launching successfully, Planetary Fleet One heads to the Moon for a test phase prior to departure for Mars. Although the spacecraft is not armed, all four astronauts bring guns in their personal packs.
Shortly after Planetary Fleet One enters lunar orbit, the crew sights the Soviet spacecraft in orbit with them. With no proof that the Soviets' intentions are hostile, the President and NASA instruct the crew to continue their flight plan. While testing the Marsrover on the lunar surface, Trasker and Balkis lose power and communication with Houston and their crewmates in orbit. A Russian cosmonaut approaches them and extends his hand as though in friendship. Instinctively aware that the cosmonaut means Trasker harm, Balkis tackles him, and the cosmonaut slashes the leg of Balkis's spacesuit with a switchblade. Trasker kills the cosmonaut with a hatchet and disables the device cutting off their power, but Balkis's foot is caught in a crevasse between two rocks, and Trasker cannot free him. Telling Trasker he loves him, Balkis dies. Meanwhile, the Soviet ship in orbit is approaching Planetary Fleet One. Halleck, aware of Trasker's affair with his wife, tries to force Weickert at gunpoint to let him make the burn to take them out of orbit and leave Trasker to die. The two astronauts shoot each other; Halleck is killed, and Weickert ejects Halleck's body into space. Leaving Balkis's body on the surface, Trasker rejoins Weickert in orbit and rams the Soviet ship, sending it spinning into a fatal solar orbit. Trasker gets himself and the severely wounded Weickert back to the American space station in Earth's orbit.
Back on Earth, a congressional investigation into Planetary Fleet One begins. The President urges Trasker to downplay the Soviet role in the tragedy to avoid international tension, implying that he will be given command of the next Mars flight if he does so. Trasker and Weickert testify before the congressional commission, where hostile questioning by Senator Kenny Williams, an enemy of the space program, forces Trasker to reveal the truth so as not to lie under oath; only Halleck's role remains concealed. The President still offers Trasker command of Planetary Fleet Two, but Trasker refuses unless the mission can be armed. With the President about to offer another astronaut command, nearly the entire astronaut corps releases a statement that they will not participate in any further missions unless Trasker commands the mission and the spacecraft is armed. The President relents, and Planetary Fleet Two launches for Mars commanded by Trasker. The Soviet space program launches its own mission to Mars on the same day.
While this book was a bestseller, it was panned [6] by book reviewers. Kirkus Reviews commented that The Throne of Saturn was so heavy that "you may have to read it on the floor" and that Halleck "behaves like a total fruitcake throughout". [7] The Victoria Advocate said that "Drury's political blinkers diminish what might have been the first authoritative novel of the space age." [8] Copley News Service commented that "Drury has overwhelmingly documented and sometimes overdocumented the technical phases of Piffy One's training flight." [1] A copy of The Throne of Saturn was on Richard Nixon's desk when he resigned the Presidency in 1974. [9]
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in preparing and landing the first men on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was first conceived in 1960 during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person Project Mercury, which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-person Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration 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 that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. 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.
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and had its peak with the more particular Moon Race to land on the Moon between the US moonshot and Soviet moonshot programs. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security and became part of the symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon.
Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers amid the Cold War.
The Constellation program was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a "return to the Moon no later than 2020" with a crewed flight to the planet Mars as the ultimate goal. The program's logo reflected the three stages of the program: the Earth (ISS), the Moon, and finally Mars—while the Mars goal also found expression in the name given to the program's booster rockets: Ares. The technological aims of the program included the regaining of significant astronaut experience beyond low Earth orbit and the development of technologies necessary to enable sustained human presence on other planetary bodies.
The Shuttle–Mir program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States that involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the Shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to allow American astronauts to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.
A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surface from orbit or sub-orbit, and are distinguished from other types of recoverable spacecraft by their blunt shape, not having wings and often containing little fuel other than what is necessary for a safe return. Capsule-based crewed spacecraft such as Soyuz or Orion are often supported by a service or adapter module, and sometimes augmented with an extra module for extended space operations. Capsules make up the majority of crewed spacecraft designs, although one crewed spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, has flown in orbit.
Marooned is a 1969 American science fiction film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus and Gene Hackman about three astronauts who are trapped and slowly suffocating in space. It was based on the 1964 novel Marooned by Martin Caidin. While the original novel was based on the single-pilot Project Mercury, the film depicted an Apollo command and service module with three astronauts and a space station resembling Skylab. Caidin acted as technical adviser and updated the novel, incorporating appropriate material from the original version.
Voyage is a 1996 hard science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. The book depicts a crewed mission to Mars as it might have been in another timeline, one where John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on him on 22 November 1963. Voyage won a Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997.
Marooned is a 1964 science fiction thriller novel by American writer Martin Caidin, about a crewed spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit, oxygen running out, and only an experimental craft available to attempt a rescue. A film based on the novel led Caidin to prepare a revised version of it in 1968. The film was released in 1969, four months after the Apollo 11 mission, with the revised novel sold by book stores a few weeks earlier.
Manned Venus Flyby was a 1967–1968 NASA proposal to send three astronauts on a flyby mission to Venus in an Apollo-derived spacecraft in 1973–1974, using a gravity assist to shorten the return journey to Earth.
Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert H. Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, each of whom published works proposing rockets as the means for spaceflight. The first successful large-scale rocket programs were initiated in Nazi Germany by Wernher von Braun. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first animal, the first human and the first woman into orbit. The United States landed the first men on the Moon in 1969. Through the late 20th century, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China were also working on projects to reach space.
Sergey Nikolayevich Ryzhikov, lieutenant colonel of Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He is a veteran of two long duration space flights to the ISS.
The LK was a lunar module developed in the 1960s as a part of several Soviet crewed lunar programs. Its role was analogous to the American Apollo Lunar Module (LM). Three LK modules, of the T2K variant, were flown without crew in Earth orbit, but no LK ever reached the Moon. The development of the N1 launch vehicle required for the lunar flight suffered setbacks, and the first Moon landings were achieved by US astronauts on Apollo 11. As a result, having lost the Space Race, both the N1 and the LK programs were cancelled without any further development.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program, and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program.
Anatoli Alekseyevich Ivanishin is a former Russian cosmonaut. His first visit to space was to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft as an Expedition 29/Expedition 30 crew member, launching in November 2011 and returning in April 2012. Ivanishin was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 49.
Soyuz MS-17 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 14 October 2020. It transported three crew members of the Expedition 63/64 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 was the 145th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer.
