The Astronauts

"The Astronauts" (in Polish "Astronauci") is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951. (The sci-fi novel "The Man from Mars" was serialized in a weekly during 1946.)

To write the novel, Lem received advance payment from publishing house Czytelnik (Warsaw). The book became an instant success and was translated into several languages (first into Czech, published in 1956). This success convinced Lem to switch to careers to a science-fiction author.

"The Astronauts" was written for the youth in form of an Utopian space opera. Inability to ever understand alien civilizations, a frequent motive of Lem's future works, does appear here for the first time. To get published under the communist regime in Poland Lem had to insert frequent references to the ideals of communism. Decades later, Lem didn't value The Astronauts very much:

:"Everything is so smooth and balanced; among the heroes we have a positive Russian character and a sweet Chinese; naiveté is present on all pages of this book. The hope that in the year 2000 the world would be wonderful is indeed very childish...." [ [http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/dziela/czlowiek/czlowiek.htm "Youthful Works"] at lem.pl]

The term "cosmonauts" used in countries of Eastern Bloc was not yet created when the text was written, hence the name "Astronauts".

Plot summary

The introduction describes the fall of Tunguska meteorite (1908) and subsequent expedition of Leonid Kulik. The hypothesis about the crash of a cosmic ship is mentioned.

It's the year 2003. Communism has won worldwide and humankind, freed from oppression and chaos, is engaged in gigantic engineering projects - irrigation of the Sahara, the construction of a hydro-energetic plant over the Strait of Gibraltar and the ability to control the climate. The latest project is to thaw the Antarctic and Arctic regions by artificial nuclear-powered "suns" circling above.

During the preparation of earthworks in the Tunguska area a strange object is found and later identified as an extraterrestrial data record. The record contains details about the travel of the cosmic ship from Venus (crashing in Tunguska) and the data ends with an ominous message: "After two rotations the Earth will be radiated. After the radiation intensity drops to half, the Great Movement will commence." Scared, the government of the Earth (consisting of scientists) decides to send the newly built cosmic ship "Kosmokrator" (equipped with vacuum tube based computer "Marax") to Venus.

After a few weeks the international crew of Kosmokrator arrives on Venus but finds no traces of life, only strange, half-destroyed technological structures like "White Globe", a giant anti-gravity device.

It turns out that Venus was inhabited by a warlike civilization planning to occupy the Earth. Before they managed to destroy the life on Earth they themselves perished in nuclear civil war, leaving only ruins of the cities and scattered electronic records.

Film adaptations

In 1960, a movie "Der Schweigende Stern" ("The Silent Star", in Polish "Milcząca Gwiazda") based on the book was shot in East Germany, directed by Kurt Maetzig. The 1962 release in the USA used name "First Spaceship on Venus". Lem had disowned the movie.

In the movie, the disc is found at Tunguska, but not translated yet. It is ascertained that it originated on Venus, and so radio telescopes are aimed at the planet and greetings are sent. There is no reply. The recently-completed Cosmostrator spaceship, intended to voyage to Mars, is redirected to Venus, a 21 day trip. During the voyage, a moody American scientist works furiously to try to translate the alien message using the ship's computer, and doesn't want to take any rest or be interrupted by anything.

When the ship is too close to override radio interference from Venus, the American scientist calls in the crew and relates the translation he has achieved: Venusians intend to irradiate the Earth's surface to eliminate the human life, then occupy it with their own people. The captain decides they will land and try to deal with the Venusians.

At arrival, a one-man ship lands and encounters an industrial complex. The entire ship lands and they proceed to investigate, but there are no native life forms to greet them. They eventually realize that the complex, alien technology must have destroyed the native population, leaving only shadows on walls that are vaguely humanoid. However, the machines are continuing to operate toward the Venusians' ultimate goal, so Earth is in danger from automated programs. They must somehow stop the machines from carrying out that program. The Cosmostrator is repelled off the surface by the Venus machines, leaving one or two crew behind.

Early in the movie, the international television network Intervision is mentioned. Intervision was the television operation that shared programs among the Warsaw Pact bloc of nations.

"First Spaceship On Venus" was featured in the 2nd season of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000".

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/bibliografia/tytuly/blblioframe.htm List of published Lem's novels in all languages]
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* [http://www.lem.pl/polish/dziela/astro/astro/astro.htm Reviews of the novel] (in Polish)