Marooned (novel) - 1964 Version

1964 Version

The first edition of the novel Marooned opens with the central character, Major Richard “Dick” Pruett, attempting to come to terms with his impending doom. Pruett, an astronaut in the Mercury-Atlas IV program, is in orbit alone. His engines have failed to fire for re-entry and he is stranded in orbit, where he faces death due to asphyxiation as he depletes the on-board supply of oxygen. The story goes into an extended flashback that reviews Pruett’s development as a US Air Force fighter test pilot and training as an astronaut. As Pruett reviews his life, a friend of his in the astronaut corps, Jim Dougherty, refuses to accept that all his lost. He pushes NASA officials to mount a rescue mission using the prototype of a new spacecraft in development, the two-man Gemini. The challenges are formidable. The rescue mission must be prepared and launched in a matter of mere days. Daugherty must fly the untested Gemini spacecraft solo, achieve a rendezvous with the Mercury vessel stranded in orbit, get Pruett on board the new spacecraft in the empty co-pilot's seat, and return to earth. As NASA scrambles to prepare and launch the rescue mission, the Soviets secretly make their own plans to rescue Pruett first, rushing to send a cosmonaut aloft in a Vostok spacecraft.