Actually, Rapaire (picky, picky picky, but to give proper credit where due), Willy Ley, a science writer and space flight buff was an advisor on "Destination Moon." The scenery was done by Chesley Bonestell (pronounced "BAHN-uh-stell"). I had a copy of his Conquest of Space (1949), a book of paintings he did about eight years before Sputnik (I looked all through my book cases and damned if I can't find it now!! Where is it!??!?). He painted from what was known (or thought to be known) at the time, and interpolated pretty intelligently where he thought necessary. He was off a lot (he had water on Mars, near the polar caps), but considering, in a lot of his paintings, it's amazing how close he came. Some photos from probes like Voyager look a lot like Bonestell paintings.

Back in the days before non-rocket scientists thought much about multi-stage launch vehicles. With "Destination Moon" in mind, this should look real familiar (but Earth seen from the moon turned out to be far more spectacular than even he imagined).

"Silent Running" Some pretty questionable science in spots, but darn good movie. Kinda poignant. He called the three little maintenance robots "Huey, Dewie, and Louey," after Donald Duck's three nephews, probably because of the way they waddled around the ship. Background song sung by Joan Baez.

Don Firth