Prelude to Space Read Online Free PDF

the Earth—they travel in practically
     straight lines, so that one station can send signals only as far as the horizon. Airborne
     relays had been built to get over this difficulty, but it was realized that the final
     solution would be reached only when repeater stations could be built thousands of
     miles above the Earth—artificial moons, probably traveling in twenty-four-hour orbits
     so that they’d appear stationary in the sky. No doubt you’ve read all about these
     ideas, so I won’t go into them now.
    “So by about 1970 we had the support of some of the world’s biggest technical organizations,
     with virtually unlimited funds. They
had
to come to us, since we had all the experts. In the early days, I’m afraid there
     was a certain amount of bickering and the Service Departments have never quite forgiven
     us for stealing back all their best scientists. But on the whole we get along well
     enough with ADA, Westinghouse, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, Lockheeds, de Havillands,
     and the rest of them. They’ve all got offices here, as you’ve probably noticed. Although
     they make us very substantial grants, the technical services they provide are really
     beyond price. Without their help, I don’t suppose we’d have reached this stage for
     another twenty years.”
    There was a brief pause, and Dirk emerged from the torrent of words like a spaniel
     clambering out of a mountain stream. McAndrews talked much too quickly, obviously
     repeating phrases and whole paragraphs which he had been using for years. Dirk got
     the impression that almost everything he had said had probably come from other sources,
     and wasn’t original at all.
    “I’d no idea,” he replied, “just how extensive your ramifications were.”
    “Believe me, that’s nothing!” McAndrews exclaimed. “I don’t think there are many big
     industrial firms who haven’t been convinced that we can help them in some way. The
     cable companies will save hundreds of millions when they can replace their ground
     stations and land-lines by a few repeaters in space; the chemical industry will—”
    “Oh, I’ll take your word for it! I was wondering where all the money came from, and
     now I see just how big a thing this is.”
    “Don’t forget,” interjected Matthews, who had hitherto been sitting in resigned silence,
     “our most important contribution to industry.”
    “What’s that?”
    “The import of high-grade vacuums for filling electric-light bulbs and electronics
     tubes.”
    “Ignoring Alfred’s usual facetiousness,” said Mc-Andrews severely, “it’s perfectly
     true that physics in general will make tremendous strides when we can build laboratories
     in space. And you can guess how the astronomers are looking forward to observatories
     which will never be bothered by clouds.”
    “I know now,” said Dirk, ticking off the points on his fingers, “just
how
Interplanetary happened, and also what it hopes to do. But I still find it very hard
     to define exactly what it is.”
    “Legally, it’s a non-profit-making (“And how!” interjected Matthews,
sotto voce
) organization devoted, as its charter says, ‘to research into the problems of space
     flight.’ It originally obtained its funds from
Spacewards
, but that hasn’t any official connection with us now that it’s linked up with
National Geographic
—though it has plenty of unofficial ones. Today most of our money comes from government
     grants and from industrial concerns. When interplanetary travel is fully established
     on a commercial basis, as aviation is today, we’ll probably evolve into something
     different. There are a lot of political angles to the whole thing and no one can say
     just what will happen when the planets start to be colonized.”
    McAndrews gave a little laugh, half apologetic and half defensive.
    “There are a lot of pipe-dreams floating around this place, as you’ll probably discover.
     Some people have ideas of starting