ROCKETNAVIGATION

Samuel Herrick

Peer Reviewed

Abstract: That there are inhabited or habitable worlds in moon or planets has been a belief persisting in the minds of a few since the time of the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (5th Century B.C.), or even the time of Orpheus the poet, if we may trust tradition. To reach these worlds has been an aspiration that has expressed itself, at least in literature, for nearly as long. Scientific speculation on the means of doing so is a newer phenomenon, but it has nevertheless a history of several hundred years. Today the few have become many, less certain of the habitability of near-by planets, it is true, but deriving from the new forces that nature is disclosing to us a conviction that space will be conquered. Will this conviction become reality, or again just a dream? Perhaps the answer will be found in the relative numbers of those to whom the quest for new worlds is a more fascinating goal, or a less, than blowing up the only one we now have.
Published in: NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 2, Number 8
Pages: 259 - 272
Cite this article: Herrick, Samuel, "ROCKETNAVIGATION", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 2, No. 8, 1950, pp. 259-272.
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