Galaxy Science Fiction—February 1956

Updated 2 January 2024

Galaxy Magazine is considered on of the core science fiction magazines from the mid-twentieth centrury that blends science and potential-science into a magazine full of tall stories and adventure. This edition is focused on the moon and man's desire to overcome nature's hostile environment. There is also a deep dive into the science of the moon and what potential discoveries can be harvested to help mankind.

Magazine Contents

Science Review - The Other Side of the moon

The moon has always held a special allure, a celestial mystery winking at us from the night sky. Prior to the monumental Apollo landings, the moon was a canvas for our wildest speculations and deepest wonders. In 1956, the far side of the moon was Earth’s greatest enigma, hidden from view and, thus, ripe for the imagination of science fiction writers and dreamers alike. This unseen lunar face sparked conversations about alien landscapes and the tantalizing possibility of life, spurred on by the groundbreaking scientific principles of Kepler and Hansen.

The theories of the era, steeped in scientific discovery yet limited by the technology of the time, opened a floodgate of what-ifs. What if Kepler's laws hinted at more than just the motion of celestial bodies, but at hidden secrets in the moon's perpetual embrace with Earth? What if Hansen's work on the moon's shape was not just a geometric discourse but a clue to lunar valleys teeming with extraterrestrial flora and fauna? Science fiction speculated on these endless possibilities, imagining a far side of the moon that was not a barren wasteland but a vibrant ecosystem.

Envision a moon where the far side, shielded from Earth's prying eyes, harbored an atmosphere thin but present, where lunar breezes whispered over a landscape of silent majesty. In the dreams of pre-Apollo thinkers, there might have been oceans nestled in craters, translucent creatures gliding through low-gravity air, and a sky lit by the distant, shimmering orb of our own planet. These musings were more than mere escapism; they were a testament to humanity’s relentless pursuit of the unknown and the hope that, beyond the familiar, there lay wonders to be discovered.

But what if our feet had never touched the moon's surface? What if the Apollo missions were just another page in the book of science fiction, and we had never shattered the lunar mystery with the reality of human presence? The moon would have remained a distant lover, forever untouched and eternally alluring. Our technology would have advanced, telescopes peering ever closer, but the moon’s far side might have stayed a realm of dreams where every crater could hide an alien kingdom, and every mountain might be a castle in the sky.

As a science fiction speculator looking back, one can't help but feel a twinge of nostalgic longing for that era of innocence and conjecture. The actual barrenness of the moon's far side, revealed in stark, lifeless detail by the lenses of our spacecraft, closed the chapter on a period of wonder. Yet, in our hearts and in the pages of old science fiction, the moon remains a symbol of the boundless potential of human imagination, a reminder that there are always more questions to ask, more mysteries to explore. Our footsteps on the lunar soil may have answered many questions, but the moon, in all its silvery splendor, still calls to us, urging us to look beyond, to the next frontier, and to never stop wondering.

Book Reviews

Time travel is now taken for granted as the way of the future. But it was the science fiction writers of the past that brought into existence this possibility into people's minds. The following books were reviewed in this magazine;

1. The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov
2. Reprive from Paradise, H. Chandler Elliot
3. Time Bomb, Wilson Tucker
4. Sargasson of Space, Andrew North
5. Spaceflight Venus, Philip Wilding
6. The Green Man from Space, Lewis Zarem

References

1. Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1956, available from the Archive.org library.