This post is brought to you by Steel and Stone a novel in three parts from M. D. Jackson. The Agency – otherwise known as the Department of Covert Operations – is a sophisticated galaxy-wide organization made up of unsophisticated operatives. Take John Steel, for instance. Or is it Abner Jenkins? Is he actually an operative of the Agency, or is he carrying out a personal vendetta? The galaxy is either on the verge of collapse or on the cusp of a universe shaking transformation. Either way, it’s up to the Operatives of the Agency to figure out which it is and then do something about it.
The concept of the station in space developed in the Science Fiction of the 1930s. The earliest tale is considered to be “The Brick Moon” by Edward Everett Hale (The Atlantic Monthly, October-December 1869) in which an orbital station is fired into space with humans on board. Hugo Gernsback dedicated an editorial to the idea in Air Wonder Stories, April 1930. He addresses the use of such a station, pointing out that it would be a great boon to weather prediction. He also points out that the inhabitants would not have to be permanent as shuttle rockets could act as tenders. Today’s International space Station has certainly proven Hugo correct.
Of course, in Science Fiction the stations need not be revolving around Earth. They can be all across space as outposts and special laboratories. SF television and movies have given us some famous space locales from Star Trek, Star Wars and a host of others. Whether it is Deep Space 9, the Death Star, Saturn 3, Space Station V, Cooper Station, Babylon 5, Tycho Station, etc. viewers are familiar with shiny orbs and cylinders in the cosmos. Those places all had their start in the Pulps of the 1930s and in the artwork of Frank R. Paul.
I’m not sure what the point of the glasses is. The first 3-D movie? Still, like with most SF, Paul designed the circular space station long before such a thing existed.
“The Power Plant” (Amazing Stories, June 1931) by Murray Leinster has an international power station 40,000,000 miles from Earth that broadcasts blasts of power to the planet. The electricity is generated by the difference between in its solar and dark sides. Since the station is international it has no weapons. Which is a problem because war has broken out on Earth. One nation planetside is willing to destroy the energy generator for political gain. The heroes of the story must stop their missiles. This story is still quite readable today.
“Sky Cops” (Amazing Stories, December 1931) by Harl Vincent and Chas. Roy Cox has a cop shop 95,000 miles from Earth. Otherwise a cop story.
“The Crossroads of Space (Wonder Stories, September 1932) by Arthur G. Stangland features space refueling station 88-X between Neptune and Pluto. Panic and mutiny ensues when the station passes through a belt of ionizing gas. The mutineers leave in a lifeboat and crash and burn, freeing the station in the process.
“The Eternal Dictator” (Wonder Stories, February 1933) by Nat Schachner begins with a space station being built near Earth. This station is taken over by the dictator of the title, Melius the First, an immortal. He turns the station into a virtual death star,ruling from above like some kind of Sith emperor. There is a second station that was pulled away from Earth by a comet. Of course, the two will meet and fight. Dictators always get their asses kicked in Pulp fiction.
“Dead Star Station” (Astounding Stories, November 1933) by Jack Williamson is set, of course, at Dead Star Station, a moored spaceship that serves as a base. The dead star causes a huge gravity well that captures both ship and space pirates. Fortunately, an old inventor, Gideon Crew saves everyone with his anti-grav experiment that everybody poo-poohed.
“Famine on Mars” (Astounding Stories, September 1934) by Frank K. Kelly has a space station beyond the Moon. The earth is run by a cartel organization called the Combine. The dictators have been slowly killing off the Martians after a rebellion. The messages through space run through a chain involving space stations. The story stars radio operators on the space station, one a Martian named NX-5. He is willing to die to get generators to his dying planet.
Space Station 1 (Argosy, October 10, 1936) by Manly Wade Wellman reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, September-October 1939 is a story set, you guessed it, on a space station. Set between Mars and Jupiter, it acts as an essential mid-point terminal. Spherical, two hundred meters in diameter, the station is an ugly hulk. It’s a lonely and unendurable job for two men. It will come to blows. Frank Belknap Long would write a novel in a similar setting with Space Station No. 1 (1957).
Conclusion
I have to admit when I hear ‘space station” I immediately think of K-7 from the original Star Trek. I used to own the model. I also used to wonder how much walking it was to go from one dock to another. Of course, you wouldn’t, would you? (After spending some time in airports later in life, I’m not so sure about that. It would still be faster than traversing the Lester B. Pearson in Toronto.)
Science Fiction stories with space stations are not unusual. They usually offer backgrounds for other action. A ship stops off there and then goes back into space for more action. The spaceship offers mobility and therefore is featured more often. But where planets are not be found, a space station is a logical spot, like Jupiter and the outer planets. Since you can’t build on Jupiter, a station beside it is the next step. (If you want to see what that looks like, try Ships of Steel and T. Neil Thomas’ “Guidion’s Burden”, set on Jo Jo Station. There’s a space station you’ll never forget.)
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