Questions tagged [space-exploration]
Space Exploration is the idea of traveling through space, beyond a home planet's orbit to discover things unknown to the explorer. Use this tag for questions about space exploration in science fiction or fantasy, not for real life questions. For real life questions, visit our sister site Space Exploration at space.stackexchange.com.
178 questions
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Book where humans have explored a lot of the universe without finding life
All I know about it is humans have long explored large parts of the universe and have yet to find life outside of Earth. The story focuses on the spiritual ramifications of this reality as the ...
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Did the 5 year mission begin and end with Kirk in command?
I'm trying to figure out if Kirk had a 5 year mission all to himself. In the original series, was the entire 5 year mission of the Enterprise and her crew commanded by Kirk, or did he inherit the ...
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Titles/author of book series on civilization destroying wave sweeping the galaxy
I read this book over 5 years ago, borrowed from a friend, but I believe it is quite a bit older.
A spaceship finds several planets where advanced civilizations have collapsed fairly suddenly, and ...
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Short Story About How 2 Astronauts Who Stop for Lunch Unknowingly Destroy the Only Lifeform on an Arid Planet
In the 70's or 80's I read a short story in which 2 astronauts looking for a nice place to eat lunch choose a spot at the pole of a small desolate planet, overlooking the world's only pool of surface ...
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Short story or book about a space crew on a broken ship who were capturing alien animals for a zoo
I would like to know the title and author of a short story I read a long time ago. It's about 3 men in space. They were sent to different planets to catch other organisms on different planets. ...
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1970s to 1980s space exploration short story from an anthology
I once read a short story collection, possibly in the 1980s. It was a mass market paperback if I recall correctly. The story that stood out for me was an interstellar exploratory party landing on a "...
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Which Year's Best Science Fiction contained Cilia of Gold, The Remoras
What year's best science fiction had the story Cilia of Gold, Remoras on the outside of an immense interstellar travelling planetoid, and a dormant alien who arrives on Earth and mistakes smiling ...
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Why doesn't Voyager in Star Trek go above the galactic plane to get back home?
Related to Why do Star Trek vessels always approach each other on parallel planes?, but on a larger scale.
The premise of Star Trek: Voyager is that the ship Voyager is stranded from Earth on the ...
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Finding the space adventure story in the late 1970's or earlier
I've read an interesting story in the late 90's, but the book was already 20 years old. So the story was written earlier than 1970's.
What I recall about it:
All starts with some kind of sorting ...
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Aliens psych test humans before allowing them to settle
I read a book many years ago, in the early 90s, but published earlier, and I'm trying to find it again. The story started out with aliens contacting the earth and leaving several devices that ...
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Story [novel, novella?] that featured faster-than-light or hyperdrive gained from observing distant drive use, also had a sentient star
I have little recollection when I read this, but it started with people observing indications of some special engine use many lightyears away, and it led them to 'reverse-engineer' the traces to ...
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SF novel that takes place on a planet called Ragnarok? [duplicate]
In my youth I read and enjoyed a SF novel that took place largely on a planet called Ragnarok. I'd like to rediscover it, if I could. Some details I remember:
Humans are fighting a war with a ...
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Short story about rocks that taught kids to bounce
In a collection of short sci-fi stories, I read one where two sibling hated their parents always being away on scientific expeditions to other planets. One day, they decided to stow away on their ...
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Book about a killer planet where only plastic weapons can be used
I'm looking for a book I read as a kid in high school. All I remember of it is:
2 characters (possibly male and female) travel to a "killer" planet where no metal can be present so take only plastic ...
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Novel where “sub-standard” humans are sent to perform space exploration
When I was in my early teens, I read a science fiction novel I have since lost track of, and can remember neither the title nor the author. I can remember only a few details about the novel, but ...
user8337
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Looking for the author of a series of books about aliens traveling forward and backwards in time [closed]
In this series of books mankind has developed Virtual Copies of scientists to populate Probes sent out exploring space. One probe discovers a planet with an ancient Spire existing on the surface. An ...
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Book ID: Astronauts and Lab Students can create portals through space
Desperate to locate and re-read exceptional book/series, but cannot remember the title.
The high concept: The U.S. has just sent the first successful expedition to Mars, and it has just landed. As the ...
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Do spaceships have Earth vermin?
Pests are always sneaking into cargo bins in one place and escaping into another place far away. Can somebody please name the first novel, comic or movie that depicts rats or other Earth vermin ...
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Story about human space explorers who run into alien telepath space crew
I read a short story in an anthology around 1998 (the book could have been older than that) which went like this - A human space exploration scientific crew is exploring an alient planet (peaceful ...
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Did Any SF Stories Predict a Televised Moon Landing?
I've read that even with all the SF stories written about the first landing on the Moon, not a single one written before the Apollo missions were planned ever had any hint that the first landing would ...
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Can someone help me figure out the name of a sci-fi book about space travel at the speed of light? [duplicate]
I read this book when I was much younger and can't remember the name of it but I remember it's one of the best books I've ever read.
It starts with this young girl that bumps into an older lady, the ...
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80s TV movie: ship with child crew [duplicate]
Question regarding a TV movie from the 80s with a ship crewed entirely by children. These children were geniuses who were specifically chosen because it was the only way a crew could make it all the ...
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Book or short story about an empty city with deadly traps
Many years ago I read a book or story where a group of people discover a dark city - maybe on another planet - which appears devoid of life but is in very good condition. As they gradually explore the ...
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A novel about humans on a water planet who used iron-wings made from a ruined settler ship
Some time ago, I borrowed a book from my father.
It was about a water planet with huge storms and deadly monsters.
There were a few islands where people could live. They moved between islands using ...
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Short story involving survival on a small asteroid; people stranded on it must keep off 'day' side
I have a strong recollection of reading a short story as a kid in the 1980's - 90's about a couple of guys (kids, maybe) that were stranded on an asteroid or moon after some disaster and needed to ...
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Planet with hexagons with either magic or technology
I read a good book a while ago and can't remember the title.
It is the story of people stuck on a planet made of hexagons, where the level of technology is set depending on the type of hexagon. Some ...
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How long ago could we have gone to Mars? [closed]
In the online show Pioneer One, part of the premise is that decades ago the USSR sent a secret expedition to Mars. Setting aside the problems of keeping such a feat a secret for decades, this seems ...
user1027
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Trying to identify "I will measure the dust" story
I have a distant memory of a story which involves a person conversing with an intelligent space probe before it's launched on a long-term mission. As I recall it, their conversation goes something ...
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