Country United Kingdom Publication date 1959 Pages 191 Publisher Faber and Faber | Language English Media type Print (Hardback) Originally published 1959 Page count 191 Cover artist Leslie Wood | |
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Series Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A Genres Novel, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction Similar Works by Hugh Walters, Chris Godfrey of UNEXA books | ||
Operation Columbus is a juvenile science fiction novel, the third in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1959, in the US by Criterion Books in 1960 under the title First on the Moon, and in the Netherlands by Prisma Juniores as 'Wedloop naar de Maan' 1963.
Plot summary
Both America and Russia plan manned missions to the Moon to examine the wreckage of the structures destroyed in The Domes of Pico. The American astronaut, Morrison Kant, breaks his leg shortly before takeoff, so Chris Godfrey steps in. Both spacecraft arrive at the same time. Unlike Chris Godfrey, the Russian pilot, Serge Smyslov, is unable to leave his Lunar Rover vehicle and both head for the wrecked domes, leading to a tense standoff...
The book predates the first use of a Lunar Rover by 11 years.