SPACE PLATFORM by Murray Leinster

Reaching for the Stars....

Ever since ancient man first gazed in wonder at the stars, humanity has dreamed of traveling to outer space. Now scientists agree that space-flight may very soon become a reality.

Space Platform tells of man’s first step into outer space ... of the difficulties and dangers of reaching for the stars. It is also an exciting adventure. When young Joe Kenmore came to Bootstrap to install pilot gyros in the Platform he hadn’t bargained for sabotage or murder or love. But Joe learned that ruthless agents were determined to wreck the project. He found that the beautiful girl he loved, and men like The Chief, a rugged Indian steelworker, and Mike, a midget who made up for his size by brains, would have to fight with their bare hands to make man’s age old dream of space travel come true!

This Pocket Book includes every word contained in the original, higher-priced edition. It is printed from brand-new plates made from completely reset, clear, easy-to-read type.

SPACE PLATFORM

Shasta edition published February, 1953

Pocket Book edition published March, 1953

1st printing                                    January, 1953

All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address: Shasta Publishers, 5525 South Blackstone Avenue, Chicago, 37, Illinois.

Copyright, 1953, by Will F. Jenkins. This Pocket Book edition is published by arrangement with Shasta Publishers. Printed in the U.S.A.

POCKET BOOKS, INC. NEW YORK, N. Y.

Notice: Pocket Book editions are published in the United States by Pocket Books, Inc., in Canada by Pocket Books of Canada, Ltd., and in England by News of the World, Registered User of the Trade Marks. Trade Marks registered in the United States and British Patent Offices by Pocket Books, Inc., and registered in Canada by Pocket Books of Canada, Ltd.

Of other books by Murray Leinster, the following are science-fiction:

SIDEWISE IN TIME

MURDER MADNESS

THE LAST SPACE SHIP

THE LAWS OF CHANCE (Anthology)

GREAT STORIES OF SCIENCE FICTION (editor)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This acknowledgment is necessary if I am to say thanks to some experts to whom I am indebted. There is Captain Charles Benjamin, who read over the aviation parts of this book with pursed lips and a belligerent attitude toward questionable statements of fact or observation. There is Dr. John Drury Clark, whose authoritative knowledge of rocket fuels was the basis for admitted but not extravagant extrapolation on my part. There is the crew of a four-engined transport ship, who argued over my manuscript and settled the argument by a zestful, full-scale crash-landing drill—repeat, “drill”—expressly to make sure I had described all the procedure just right. There is Willy Ley, whom I would like to exempt from responsibility for any statement in the book, while I acknowledge the value of personal talks with him and the pleasure anybody who has ever read his books will recognize. And there is Dr. Hugh S. Rice of the Hayden Planetarium, who will probably be surprised to find that I feel I owe him gratitude. They are in great part responsible for the factual matter in this book.

I think I may add, though, that I worked on it too.

Murray Leinster
“Ardudwy”
Gloucester, Va.

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