Space Exploration Fiction

“There’s a lot of things they didn’t tell me when I signed on with this outfit.” At least that’s what Sam Washington discovered after he got hired as Spaceport Manager on Space Station Zion. For one thing, everyone hated his predecessor, so now they hate Sam. Still, once he took the job, Sam considered it his duty to get the place back in shape. But angry admirals and profit-crazed tycoons keep crawling into his job description. Too bad no one is on his side – even when the fate of the entire station is on the line! Can Sam fix this mess, or is it time to start updating his resume?

After stumbling upon a portal.... ... a universe of magic and science exploration becomes possible, and life is never the same again. Bored in science class for the hundredth time, Noah stares out the window until a strange noise catches his attention—one that no one else seems to hear. Following the sound, he sneaks out, only to find a gateway to another dimension right before his eyes... and then it all gets a little crazy... But just when Noah fears he’s destined to be trapped in a parallel universe all alone, he discovers a world brimming with new friends, wondrous discoveries, and ...

Decades after the last footprints were left on the Moon, the US was preparing to return to the Lunar surface in a new class of rockets, when the mission suddenly became much more urgent. It would have to be a rescue mission. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world China had sent its own Lunar expedition. A manned expedition. Until a distress call was received, no human outside of China even knew that the mission was manned - or that their ship had crash-landed and couldn't take off again.

Robots are building a colossal telescope on the far side of the moon, with just two people supervising its completion. After a minor incident, these scientists become aware of an obstacle in the lunar soil. It's located outside the area reserved for the hypertelescope and is therefore none of their business. But their curiosity gets the better of them. The artifact seems to have properties that completely defy physics as they know it.

Michael Watson is the captain of an inner galaxy cruiser: He Purchased Star Dancer right out of school and has spent the last twenty years running people and supplies to outposts within the confines of the Solar System and the established bases on the Moon, Mars and Saturn's moons. The times are changing though and the big money is in the longer out of system runs. To do that he'll need a crew and a bigger ship, but he has the ambition and the rest just might fall into place. A new navigator, the beautiful Petra starts him thinking in a new direction and not just about Star Cruising. Maybe ...

In The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, America’s preeminent storyteller, imagines a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor—of crystal pillars and fossil seas—where a fine dust settles on the great empty cities of a vanished, devastated civilization. Earthmen conquer Mars and then are conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race. In this classic work of fiction, Bradbury exposes our ambitions, weaknesses, and ignorance in a strange and breathtaking world where man does not belong.

In the grand tradition of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible tells the story of a space cruiser sent to an obscure planet to determine the fate of a sister spaceship whose communication with Earth has abruptly ceased. Landing on the planet Regis III, navigator Rohan and his crew discover a form of life that has apparently evolved from autonomous, self-replicating machines—perhaps the survivors of a “robot war.” Rohan and his men are forced to confront the classic quandary: what course of action can humanity take once it has reached the limits of its knowledge?

Finally in English! A different kind of SF story, with a very special heroine. Only ten years old, Tanit is a genius and the youngest astrobiologist in history. For that reason she has been authorized to journey to the newly founded colony of Thuis, fifty light-years from Earth. There she will finally join her mother, who left for the colony two years before. But Tanit has no idea of the terrible events looming in her future that will force her to fend for herself in a hostile universe. First book of the popular Spanish science fiction series "In strange orbits". This episode is included in...

The crew of the Harpy are back and this time they’re armed for a battle. Half the known systems want to kill them. The other half wants to be them. It’s hard trying to save the universe when the universe can’t make up its mind. But when a gap appears in the Belt enticing every known species to peek through to the other side, things go from bad to worse. And that’s not even taking into account the rogue Originator Class vessel out of New Earth. Secret science stations, nimble gunboats, and a missing High Councillor; you’d think the crew have enough on their hands. But there’s ...

Thousands of years ago, Earth's terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity's great empire fell, and the program's decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth. But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed. And it's been waiting for them.

After years of combat with the invasive bio-machines from Andromeda, Nathan Myers and the crew of the Legacy have acquired startling intelligence from their latest Prule engagement. The Bio-machines and their proxy races are gathering technology plundered from the Milky Way galaxy and withdrawing through the Guardian Gateways to unknown locations. The reasons behind the unexpected Prule strategy has Nathan and his crew searching for answers.

Captain Shirakaya commands the Celestial, an intergalactic starship that glides through the inky blackness of deep space. As a powerful sorceress, she and her crew investigate paranormal events while exploring the void.

Aiah has fought her way out of poverty and discovers a limitless source of plasm, the mysterious substance that powers the world-city. Her discovery soon involves her with Constantine, the charismatic, dangerous, seductive revolutionary who plans to overthrow the government and upend the cosmic order.

Astronaut Frank Borman is alone and stranded on the surface of the moon. His radio is dead. He can't remember how he got there. It's early 1969 — Armstrong and Aldrin's lunar landing is still months away. The last thing Borman can remember is standing in the desert and hurriedly pulling on a spacesuit. After that… everything is a blank. At best, his portable life support system has a half an hour of air left. He'd scream in frustration, but nobody will hear and he'll only burn through his air supply more quickly. Whoever conspired to leave him here, it can't have been NASA — he knows ...

By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.

Astronaut Lee Rifkin's life is about to change. NASA has done the math. The space object named Cassandra 22007 is not behaving as expected. He will lead a team on a cutting-edge ship to get a closer look. But another group wants to get there first. Who is this shadow organization that seems to be one step ahead of them? Agent Jenna Haynes works to put together the pieces that will pull the veil off those who seem to have known about Cassandra's arrival since long before NASA spotted it. What is their goal?

HUMANITY’S LAST HOPE... The clock is ticking to stop a second asteroid from striking Earth, and Elliot Adams is humanity’s only chance. But saving his home world will push him and his friends to their limits as they return to a planet torn apart by devastation. Beneath the ruins, salvation may lie—if they can survive long enough to find it. Earth, however, isn’t the only battleground. On Lunar, strange occurrences threaten the fragile peace, and the Telvanni’s thirst for vengeance burns brighter than ever. With deadly secrets uncovered and enemies closer than they appear, Elliot ...

Ten thousand city-state habitats orbit the planet Yellowstone, forming a near-perfect democratic human paradise. But even utopia needs a police force. For the citizens of the Glitter Band that organization is Panoply, and the prefects are its operatives. Prefect Tom Dreyfus has a new emergency on his hands. Across the habitats and their hundred million citizens, people are dying suddenly and randomly, victims of a bizarre and unprecedented malfunction of their neural implants.

Out of the blue, a young Space Fleet officer's dream becomes reality: He's made captain of a starship. Just in time for the return of humanity's most terrible enemy, after 50 years of peace. To survive against this enemy, Captain Tad Thatcher will have to do more than learn how to become an effective commander, or how to wrangle his wayward crew. He will need to reinvent space combat. From scratch.

Science Fiction Stories 3 is a mesmerizing anthology of science fiction short stories that transport readers to extraordinary realms, exploring dystopian futures, post-apocalyptic landscapes, and thrilling adventures in space. Discover the Unexpected Delve into the surreal with "You'll Haunt My Dreams," where dreamscapes and reality blur for Shelton and Tevis. Navigate a treacherous political landscape in "Recount," as characters face mysterious census takers with ulterior motives. Unravel the enigma of "Recipe For Death," a story that blends culinary arts with lethal consequences. Confront...