Mission to Mercury

Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. #9

by Hugh Walters

The crewed expedition to Mercury is complicated by the fact that strong solar radiation makes communication with Earth impossible. U.N.E.X.A. decide that telepathy may be the answer. Telepathic twins Gill and Gail volunteer; one accompanying Chris Godfrey and the crew on the mission; the other remaining on Earth. As they near their objective, Gail notices increasingly disruptive personality changes in the crew caused by the radiation, their only chance of survival is to land on the 'dark' side of the planet; however the near absolute zero conditions lead to massive heat-loss. Can they be rescued before freezing to death...

In the same year this book was published, radar observations of Mercury showed that it did not have a synchronous orbit and that the same face was not always in darkness.

Genres: Science Fiction, Childrens

160 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[^ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space fiction cannot, absolutely cannot, compare with Space non-fiction. To have recently been immersed in the brilliance of Collin’s “Carrying the Fire; an astronaut’s Journeys” makes reviewing, let alone, reading THIS children’s book an absolute hoot.

As a child I never dreamed about a manned landing on Mars, because I was more fascinated by the planet Mercury and the difficulty of landing in the ‘twilight’ zone between temperatures that would hold nitrogen as a liquid, and temperatures that would vaporise metals. I did not know this book (or indeed of its author) in my childhood. This was one of those serendipitous Charity (Thrift) shop finds.

Ignoring reality, this book is actually a very imaginative and a really fun read.
Right from the knighthood of the Director of the United Nations Exploration Agency (UNEXA) to the “British Space Training Centre at Farnborough”; from the concept of using telepathy to communicate over millions of miles, to ‘ion-drive’ propulsion, and a forest of mountain peaks on Mercury. I don’t want to say too much here, because part of the fun of reading this book is that of smiling at both the wonderfully imaginative fictional science and technology and the climate of Mercury.

Obviously it is important to remember that this book, published in 1965, was written in the light of the known first Russian and American manned orbits of Earth, and the on-going race to land on the Moon. It was an age in which to imagine and to dream of what seemed like barely credible possibilities, which would change human society for the better, forever.

How sad our cynicism seems today, as numerous unmanned rovers explore Mars, whilst recession and depression in the West point towards a manned mission seemingly ever less likely. I did enjoy reading this book; all I now need to know is assuage my curiosity and find out what an eight year old child would make of this book in our present day.

[Kifflie · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, kids. A reminder that radiation is so bad that it can cause you to start fights with your best friends if you get a big enough dosage.

Oh. Another thing. Girls can fly in space, too. Especially if they have telepathic ability like Gail and
Gill Patrick.

So, yeah. Hugh steps into the paranormal here. It's nice to have instantaneous communication to rely upon rather than that old slowpoke, the speed of light. And, of course, that does come into play during the final near-catastrophe.

But I'm getting ahead of things. This book thrilled me as a kid because yeah, I was a girl, and I could go into space, too! Even if Gail seems like a complete wuss throughout the journey, and the boys are kind of mid-60s chauvinists about it all (especially Tony Hale, and it's taken me all these years to realize that it's an English class thing with Tony).

There's a damn good reason why Gail appears to be a wuss, and Hugh drops enough hints that any savvy kid should figure it out.

Anyway. The mission. We go to Mercury, and of course we have an unexpected landing (Hugh LOVES unexpected landings), and have to deal with extreme cold when we don't have to deal with radiation.

This is still one of my favorites in the series, even with the sexism, because the suspense is really good and the non-telepathic science is cool.

[Angela Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book indroduced the Patrick twins, Gail and Gill. The two telepaths joined the international crew of explorer astronauts. It was nice to see women making a valuable contribution to space exploration. I read this book for the first time before the space shuttle missions that had women crew members, so other than Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, this was the first time I'd seen someone like myself as an important component of space exploration missions.

[Mark cuthbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still great

I read this book years ago along with all the other books in the series
Actually read them several times over as a young lad (8 til 13)
Spent many long hours in the local Gidea Park library
Now I'm 60 , how I got here I don't know , but here I am. Re reading books from my youth and remembering the great impressions they left.
I want to collect these books but very expensive

[Jim Williams]

Actually my copy, published by Criterion Books is 189 pages instead of 160 pages. It has no ISBN #, but Library of Congress No. 65-24016. It also states that "a somewhat different version of this book was published in England by Faber and Faber."

The cover, magenta, orange, black & white showing a wheel-style space station orbiting a pit marked planet or moon, states that this is a Book Club Edition. It also states, "This is a Junior Literary Guild selection, chosen as an outstanding book for older readers (B Group)."

Other books listed by the same author are;

EXPEDITION VENUS
FIRST ON THE MOON
OUTPOST ON THE MOON
DESTINATION MARS
TERROR BY SATELLITE

The back inside cover has a photograph of the author Hugh Walters and reads as follows, "HUGH WALTERS is a scientist who tries to inject factual information into his science-fiction, giving the tales credibility. He is a member of the British Interplanetary Society. Other books by Walters on our list are: Destination Mars, Expedition Venus, First on the Moon, Outpost on the Moon, and Terror by Satellite (A Junior Literary Guild selection)."

Jacket design by Simon Jeruchim. Printed in U.S.A.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 2 out of 5]

This books was written in 1965 for young people, and much of it reads like it excerpted from booklets by NASA publicists explaining rocket flight. Nor has it aged well. Never mind that it still has one face of Mercury always facing the sun, it's treatment of orbital dynamics and ultra-low temperatures show no real understanding of those fields, even in 1965 terms. The story itself foreshadows so heavy-handedly that there are no real surprises. Despite its flaws, for an interested 8-year-old it is probably a step up from booklets for children by NASA publicists, but I'm sure they could do even better.