Prelude to Space

Departure to the Stars (Original Title: Prelude to Space ) is the first science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Although already known as a writer of short stories and articles in magazines, was awakening to the stars of the beginning of his career as one of the most famous writers of science-fiction novels.

Clarke wrote this story in 1947 in only twenty days, but it was not published until 1951 in the magazine Galaxy Novels. Publication in book form was only in 1953 by Sidgwick & Jackson in the UK. A year later there appeared a bound edition in the U.S. by Gnome Press, and a paperback edition from Ballantine Books.

Departure to the Stars tells the story from the start of Prometheus, the first spacecraft in the world. Since the story was written twenty years before the moon landings of the Apollo program, Clarke wrote in 1976 a new preface. In it, he admitted that he intended to the stars a conscious influence when writing leave. He was already an active member of the space community to leave at a time when many scientists about the idea of ​​the Earth's atmosphere by rockets, only mocked. Departure to the Stars is a classic - style Clarke a story full of real details to show the reader that space travel is not only possible but within reach.

• Science fiction literature
• Literature ( 20th century)
• Literature ( English )
• Literary work
• Work of Arthur C. Clarke
• Novel, epic