I am pretty sure this story dates from the 1940's or 1950's. The first lunar expedition orbits the moon and discovers it is only a façade made of wood and canvas.
asked May 27, 2016 at 23:21
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I haven't read it yet but I can't believe there are two SF stories with the same punchline. Thanks for your help.– Lee EckhardtMay 28, 2016 at 3:18
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Once you've confirmed, please be sure to formally accept the answer by clicking the checkmark near its top left. You are the only one that can do so, and accepted answers are important for the moderators' efforts to manage duplicate questions. Welcome to the site!– OtisMay 28, 2016 at 4:43
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1 Answer
Thanks to the unique image, this is likely to be the short story "Ideas Die Hard" by Isaac Asimov, originally published in the October 1957 issue of Galaxy. The store may be read online in its entirety thanks to archive.org.
It has also previously been asked about and answered here, in the question:
Help identify the title of a story about the back side of moon being missing
The unaccepted answer (by user John Rennie) to that question contains the relevant quote from the passage you recall:
But Oldbury still looked at the Moon. It was terribly close and now the surface was moving quickly. They were starting the swing in earnest and Oldbury’s scream was high-pitched. “Look! Lookathat!” His pointing finger was stiff with terror.
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“You saw it. You saw the hidden side of the Moon as we went past and you saw there wasn’t any! Good Lord, just sticks, just big beams holding up six million square miles of canvas. I swear it, canvas!”
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John Rennie's answer was unofficially accepted by the OP in a comment which was posted as an answer and deleted by a moderator: "thank you so much for pointing out the title of the story and the author. I just read it and contrary to Isaac Asimov's introduction I think it's still a pretty good story. [. . .]" May 28, 2016 at 0:02