Operation Space: an adventure in space

by John Ball Jr. (pseudonym), John Dudley Ball

Chester Pawling, keenly interested in space travel, is invited to work at a base in the South Pacific where the great scientist, Dr. Havensson, is conducting highly secret experiments. That is just the beginning of a grand adventure that fulfils Chester’s dream of traveling into space. But it is not simple or safe. A rival national group has launched a rocket ship and a dangerous space race has begun. Chester, who is physically handicapped, gets more than one chance to prove that he is as capable as any other member of the crew.

Operation Springboard is a juvenile science fiction novel (published first in 1958 as Operation Space).

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Name used by John Dudley Ball for writing "books for boys" early in his career.

(From 1960 dustjacket bio) "JOHN BALL, JR., has led a double life, giving half of his time to flying and half to writing.

"As a youngster, he washed airplanes for barnstorming pilots in order to learn about aviation and get an occasional ride. In later years, a ground and flight instructor for Pan American World Airways, he lost track of the number of times he crossed the Atlantic. He was a commercial pilot, a member of the editorial staff of Fortune, music editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, assistant curator of the Hayden Planetarium, and a columnist on the New York World-Telegram and Sun, before he combined his two careers in his present job as Director of Public Relations of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. Mr. Ball has written many articles, stories, and books. His previous book for boys was Operation Space, which drew on the experience acquired in both phases of his dual life, as does Spacemaster 1."

Now Ball is best known for mystery novels involving the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. Tibbs was introduced in the 1965 novel In The Heat Of The Night, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into an Oscar-winning film of the same name. Ball's departure from the mystery genre was a bestselling what-if political thriller The First Team.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is fine for what it is - a short juvenile in the style of Heinlein and a hundred others of the time. Side are black and white and the tale is straightforward, even though the villains are thoroughly bland and the science either ludicrous, unexplained, or swiftly overtaken by actual events. MY favorite part of reading this wasn't the story at all, but rather the story behind the edition that I read. There is a little note preceding the title page saying:
"This is an authorized facsimile
of an original book,
and was producers in 1975 by microfilm-xerography
by Xerox University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A"

What ever that system was on is, it only prints on one side of a sheet, because every page is looped and uncut, and the interiors are unprinted. How this decidedly mediocre work was chosen for printing is a mystery I'd like to know the story behind.

[Rick Nevill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sci-Fi tale from the 50’s!

Judging how old this book is and how nothing of space flight was known back then, this was an enjoyable action-adventure book. Any persons interested in flight should enjoy the tale.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Ball's first published book and it shows the talent that would later be evident in his better known works. Although written to the simple expectations of "juvenile" science fiction of the period, it includes some original ideas and good characterization. It's only real failing is how ordinary Venus seems after it is reached. There is nothing in the description of the planet that makes it feel alien.