James McKimmey 15 min read

The old spaceman Hurtz goes through the motions of landing, but it's the boy, Jones, who will really put the rocket down, and Hurtz wonders why he ever tried to help.

James McKimmey's 1953 story sets a weathered veteran against a green kid on a fateful descent, a taut character-driven space opera. Sharp, well-observed golden-age SF. Read it for a tense tale of age, youth, and a landing that decides everything.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

15 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Joseph Eberle