Operation Columbus
{{Short description|1959 novel by Hugh Walters}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = Operation Columbus
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = File:OperationColumbus.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Hugh Walters
| cover_artist = Leslie Wood
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series = Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A
| genre = Science fiction novel
| publisher = Faber
| release_date = 1959
| media_type = Print (Hardback)
| pages = 191
| isbn =
| oclc =
| dewey = 823.91
| preceded_by = The Domes of Pico
| followed_by = Moon Base One
}}
Operation Columbus is a juvenile science fiction novel, the third in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1959, in the US by Criterion Books in 1960 under the title First on the Moon, and in the Netherlands by Prisma Juniores as 'Wedloop naar de Maan' 1963.
Plot summary
Both America and Russia plan crewed missions to the Moon to examine the wreckage of the structures destroyed in The Domes of Pico. The American astronaut, Morrison Kant, breaks his leg shortly before takeoff, so Chris Godfrey steps in. Both spacecraft arrive at the same time. Unlike Chris Godfrey, the Russian pilot, Serge Smyslov, is unable to leave his Lunar Rover vehicle and both head for the wrecked domes, leading to a tense standoff...
The book predates the first use of a Lunar Rover by 11 years.
External links
- {{Isfdb title|id=5176}}
- [http://unexa.org/walters/03columb/index.html Operation Columbus page]
- [http://ijparnham.blogspot.com/2009/05/operation-columbus-by-hugh-walters.html Operation Columbus blog plot summary]
{{UNEXA series}}
Category:1959 science fiction novels
Category:Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series
Category:Novels set on the Moon
{{1950s-sf-novel-stub}}