Space Exploration is the idea of traveling through space, beyond a home planet's orbit to discover things unknown to the explorer.

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Books about Space-Colonization without a central main character [closed]

A short time ago I got "The Martian Chronicles" from Ray Bradbury and I read it in almost one day. The (short) stories about colonization without a main character were totally fascinating to me. So ...
5
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1answer
175 views

Humanity meeting another similar intelligent life form deep into space (or not)?

I'm looking for a plot line (it should be a short story) that depicts Earth population (or their close descendants) establishing contact with another intelligent life form deep into space. After ...
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4answers
3k views

Was HAL correct?

In an exchange between astronaut Dave Bowman and the HAL 9000 computer aboard the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL asserts that he cannot allow Dave Bowman to deactivate him because doing so ...
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116 views

Humans exploring an alien world; natives trapped in a strange machine

It's a sci-fi exploration book. A few humans land on a deserted alien world that is technologically more advanced. They do not know what happened to the original inhabitants but they go exploring to ...
3
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1answer
78 views

Cat-like people who can fly to space on crosses. Telekinetic powers. Cold world. Construct mirrors in space to warm planet. Probably 70's or 80's

Anyone know this book? I'm looking for a trilogy about a female who grows up in the country and is rescued after some kind of raid and brought to the main city. Over the trilogy, she is trained in ...
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2answers
117 views

Trying to remember a movie from late 50s or early sixties

Does anyone remember a movie circa 1961 where a team from earth/USA lands on a planet and the team members are killed one by one by some mysterious disease or fungal attack? I'm fairly sure the ...
19
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1answer
665 views

Anyone know this science fiction story?

Does anyone know the title or author of a story where a lone spaceman is walking across lunar surface in a suit that has sentience. The story skilfully teases the reader into believing the spaceman is ...
11
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1answer
225 views

Short story about discovering planet inhabited by self-organising, metallic, swarming creatures

The plot: explorers find a planet, it has lots of metallic structures that exhibit regularity and pattern, but apparently nothing living. The explorers feel very secure - they have lots of ...
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1answer
235 views

Book where humans have explored a lot of the universe without finding life

All I know about it is humans have long explored large parts of the universe and have yet to find life outside of Earth. The story focuses on the spiritual ramifications of this reality as the ...
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1answer
198 views

Did the 5 year mission begin and end with Kirk in command?

I'm trying to figure out if Kirk had a 5 year mission all to himself. In the original series, was the entire 5 year mission of the Enterprise and her crew commanded by Kirk, or did he inherit the ...
9
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1answer
168 views

Titles/author of book series on civilization destroying wave sweeping the galaxy

I read this book over 5 years ago, borrowed from a friend, but I believe it is quite a bit older. A spaceship finds several planets where advanced civilizations have collapsed fairly suddenly, and ...
8
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1answer
276 views

Short Story About How 2 Astronauts Who Stop for Lunch Unknowingly Destroy the Only Lifeform on an Arid Planet

In the 70's or 80's I read a short story in which 2 astronauts looking for a nice place to eat lunch choose a spot at the pole of a small desolate planet, overlooking the world's only pool of surface ...
5
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1answer
450 views

Short story or book about a space crew on a broken ship who were capturing alien animals for a zoo

I would like to know the title and author of a short story I read a long time ago. It's about 3 men in space. They were sent to different planets to catch other organisms on different planets. ...
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2answers
333 views

1970s to 1980s space exploration short story from an anthology

I once read a short story collection, possibly in the 1980s. It was a mass market paperback if I recall correctly. The story that stood out for me was an interstellar exploratory party landing on a ...
3
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1answer
98 views

Which Year's Best Science Fiction contained Cilia of Gold, The Remoras

What year's best science fiction had the story Cilia of Gold, Remoras on the outside of an immense interstellar travelling planetoid, and a dormant alien who arrives on Earth and mistakes smiling ...
26
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4answers
3k views

Why doesn't Voyager in Star Trek go above the galactic plane to get back home?

Related to Why do Star Trek vessels always approach each other on parallel planes?, but on a larger scale. The premise of Star Trek: Voyager is that the ship Voyager is stranded from Earth on the ...
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1answer
148 views

Finding the space adventure story in the last 1970's or earlier

I've read an interesting story in the late 90's, but the book was already 20 years old. So the story was written earlier than 1970's. What I recall about it: All starts with some kind of sorting ...
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1answer
177 views

A book about a girl with a computer in her head

I'm trying to find the name of a book I read about 15 years ago. The cover had a picture of a girl standing in front of a bunch of rockets. The story was about a girl who finds out that a computer ...
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0answers
241 views

Looking for a book about alien contact/testing people

I read a book many years ago, and I'm trying to find it again. The story started out with aliens contacting the earth and leaving several devices that basically did a psychology exam of the people who ...
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1answer
197 views

Identify: Story [novel, novella?] that featured faster-than-light or hyperdrive gained from observing distant drive use, also had a sentient star

I have little recollection when I read this, but it started with people observing indications of some special engine use many lightyears away, and it led them to 'reverse-engineer' the traces to ...
3
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1answer
264 views

What is the name of the SF novel that takes place on a planet called Ragnarok?

In my youth I read and enjoyed a SF novel that took place largely on a planet called Ragnarok. I'd like to rediscover it, if I could. Some details I remember: Humans are fighting a war with a ...
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0answers
738 views

Short story about rocks that taught kids to bounce

In a collection of short sci-fi stories, I read one where two sibling hated their parents always being away on scientific expeditions to other planets. One day, they decided to stow away on their ...
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1answer
364 views

Book about a killer planet where only plastic weapons can be used

I'm looking for a book I read as a kid in high school. All I remember of it is: 2 characters (possibly male and female) travel to a "killer" planet where no metal can be present so take only plastic ...
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1answer
185 views

Novel where “sub-standard” humans are sent to perform space exploration

When I was in my early teens, I read a science fiction novel I have since lost track of, and can remember neither the title nor the author. I can remember only a few details about the novel, but ...
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1answer
205 views

Looking for the author of a series of books about aliens traveling forward and backwards in time

In this series of books mankind has developed Virtual Copies of scientists to populate Probes sent out exploring space. One probe discovers a planet with an ancient Spire existing on the surface. An ...
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1answer
123 views

Book ID: Astronauts and Lab Students can create portals through space

Desperate to locate and re-read exceptional book/series, but cannot remember the title. The high concept: The U.S. has just sent the first successful expedition to Mars, and it has just ...
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2answers
209 views

Do spaceships have Earth vermin?

Pests are always sneaking into cargo bins in one place and escaping into another place far away. Can somebody please name the first novel, comic or movie that depicts rats or other Earth vermin ...
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1answer
635 views

Story about human space explorers who run into alien telepath space crew

I read a short story in an anthology around 1998 (the book could have been older than that) which went like this - A human space exploration scientific crew is exploring an alient planet (peaceful ...
10
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1answer
582 views

Can someone help me figure out the name of a sci-fi book about space travel at the speed of light?

I read this book when I was much younger and can't remember the name of it but I remember it's one of the best books I've ever read. It starts with this young girl that bumps into an older lady, the ...
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1answer
476 views

80s TV movie: ship with child crew

Question regarding a TV movie from the 80s with a ship crewed entirely by children. These children were geniuses who were specifically chosen because it was the only way a crew could make it all the ...
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5answers
707 views

Book or short story about an empty city with deadly traps

Many years ago I read a book or story where a group of people discover a dark city - maybe on another planet - which appears devoid of life but is in very good condition. As they gradually explore the ...
7
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1answer
218 views

A novel about humans living in a water planet who used iron-wings, made from the iron of the ruined settler ship

Some time ago, I borrowed a book from my father. It was about a water planet with huge storms and dadly monsters. There were few islands where people could live. They moved between islands using ...
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1answer
616 views

Details about short story: survival on a small asteroid

I have a strong recollection of reading a short story as a kid in the 1980's - 90's about a couple of guys (kids, maybe) that were stranded on an asteroid or moon after some disaster and needed to ...
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2answers
450 views

Planet with hexagons with either magic or technology

I read a good book a while ago and can't remember the title. It is the story of people stuck on a planet made of hexagons where the level of technology is set: some have high level tech, others have ...
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2answers
327 views

How long ago could we have gone to Mars?

In the online show Pioneer One, part of the premise is that decades ago the USSR sent a secret expedition to Mars. Setting aside the problems of keeping such a feat a secret for decades, this seems ...
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3answers
2k views

Trying to identify “I will measure the dust” story

I have a distant memory of a story which involves a person conversing with an intelligent space probe before it's launched on a long-term mission. As I recall it, their conversation goes something ...
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