From the early 1950's, Arthur C. Clarke's 'Prelude to Space' offers the story of the possible advances that would finally allow mankind to reach space. Brilliantly predictive, as science fiction, it emphasizes the technical aspects of that achievement. As a novel, certainly the characters and story feel propped up simply to facilitate all that in which Clarke was really interested. As a story, then, the book is pretty thin. As a picture of what might be able to happen, before mankind made it into space, though, it offers a fascinating picture of the technological aspirations of that time.

In 1976, historian Dirk Alexson is sent to England by the University of Chicago to document for posterity the first manned mission to the moon sponsored by a private company called Interplanetary. While in the UK, he interviews and befriends some of the scientists and administrators involved in the project and receives a number of lessons in astrophysics and engineering.

However, Alexson is given very little face time with the crew of the Prometheus until they fly to the deserts of Australia for the actual launch. In fact, of the five possible crew members, only three will be chosen for the mission and that choice is not even made until the entire team reaches Australia.

Prelude to Space reads more like a documentary than a novel. The only character development occurs when our skeptical historian slowly becomes convinced during his assignment that landing a man on the moon is, in fact, feasible and exciting.

There is almost no tension in the story save for one of the astronauts worrying about his pregnant wife. Any risk to the astronauts' lives is treated lightly. Instead, the narrative merely follows Alexson as he chronicles the events around him.

Much of the book is comprised of info dumps ranging from the backgrounds of some of the characters (as if Clarke just wanted to get that out of the way in order to focus on the technology) to engineering specifications about the Prometheus and space flight in general. Arthur C. Clarke's scientific prowess is evident in this book, to point where it eclipses what little story exists. For example, as if an afterthought or an attempt to manufacture tension near the end of the story, a religious zealot fatally fails in an attempt to sabotage the Prometheus a few days before its launch. The character was introduced and killed off within a few pages, all of which added nothing to the story.

If you're looking for an exhilarating fictional tale of man's first foray to the moon, Prelude to Space will likely be a verbose and tedious disappointment. ( )

Writing in 1951, Arthur C. Clarke used Prelude to Space to explore ideas about the possibilities of travel to the moon and the solar system based on the predictions of technology at the time. In many areas he was right, such as his fictional scientists' statement, "We will take no frontiers into space" (p. 101), which hit upon the gist of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. By his own acknowledgement in his post-Apollo introduction, Clarke was too conservative in his date estimates as the United States landed humans on the moon before the end of the 1960s. At one point, Clarke's characters discuss the historical field's development, saying, "When I was a kid their textbooks were nothing but limitary primers. Then the economic determinists held the field - until the neo-Freudians routed them with great slaughter" (p. 66). This commentary on the discipline shows great insight and the modern reader expects the conversation to continue into Focault and the linguistic turn. With this in mind, Clarke never intended to predict the future. He wished to promote scientific advancement and his inside knowledge of the early space programs gave him an advantage in his storytelling.
The story itself closely resembles The Right Stuff, though Clarke's explorers lack the humanizing character flaws of the Mercury 7. The same energy of doing something great for the first time pervades the story and Clarke's use of an historian as his main character allows him to explain his ideas to an educated layperson in a natural manner that does not interrupt the plot. The theme of exploration for its own sake pervades the novel, with the characters encountering Captain Scott's Discovery early on and reminiscing, "The line that stretched through Scott back to Drake and Raleigh and yet earlier voyagers was still unbroken; only the scale of things had changed" (p. 19). In yet another instance of life imitating art, much of the early materials promoting NASA's manned spaceflight programs drew upon this continuity of historical exploration.
The novel itself represents the hopes and dreams of the dawn of the Space Age. As a story, it continues to entertain, while it serves as an artifact of that time. ( )

Written many years before the Apollo astronauts left the Earth for their trip to the moon, Arthur C. Clarke's novel covering the build up to a fictional moon mission launch gave a glimpse of one possible, but not taken route to the stars.

The technology he espoused of a reusable space plane lifting another reusable non-atmospheric spacecraft was obviously not the option chosen for the Apollo missions, though it does bear a remarkable similarity to some of the early design's for NASA follow on Space Shuttle programme. Similarly the nuclear rocket engines that powered the Prometheus pair in the novel were based on technology being developed from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, both for space flight and aircraft. Another path that we looked at, trod down for a while and then turned back from.

Clarke's text provides an interesting and well written story whilst simultaneously introducing some complex technical details in an accessible manner, even if you aren't a Sci-Fi fan or rocket engineer.

Well worth a read to see how space could have been viewed from the point of view of a late 1940s British visionary who still saw Britain as leading where America and the rest of the world would follow. ( )

Space travel as imagined by ACC in the 50's was a far different thing than what actually occurred. For myself, I think I would prefer Clarke's "reality" to that of today.

Great Britain was a serious world power, particularly in space travel; there was no "space race" per se--countries actually cooperated. Five astronauts were considered for the first flight and the two who didn't make it took it well enough.

The Prometheus (space ship) seemed to me to be along the lines (very generally) of the soon to be late, lamented space shuttle program. There was genuine enthusiasm, interest, fascination with the future--all things that to me are now lacking in life, as well as the space program.

As to the book itself, it is of course dated. One of the most touted advantages to having a presence in space was the ability to manufacture vacuum tubes for computers and communications--and when was the last time that was an issue? But the other ideas--medical products, and so on--it's a pity I think that none of this has come to be even remotely to pass.

The book itself is written with Clarke's usual style and care--sometimes a little wordy, but always thoughtful.

As always, looking backward to what might have been is affected by a rose-colored filter, but the what-might-have-beens always make me wistful.

Then, I think of gynecology and dentistry and get over it, at least to a point.