Rocket Ship Galileo

By Robert A. Heinlein

Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Teen & Young Adult

Rocket Ship Galileo (1947, Scribner's) is the first of Robert A. Heinlein's novels for young readers. Three teenage rocket enthusiasts, Ross, Art and Morrie, team up with Morrie's uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, to convert a surplus rocket into an atomic-powered ship and fly it to the Moon, where they find far more than they expected. The story pairs adventure with the practical work of building and flying a spacecraft, and it began the run of twelve juveniles Heinlein wrote for Scribner's.

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• Bill Gates: “I met Paul around the time I had finished reading all of the science fiction writer's early books. Those novels were adventure stories with titles like Rocket Ship Galileo and Space Cadet.”