Rocket Ship Galileo

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Spider Robinson

Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high-school students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the Galileo Club, is experimenting with rocket fuels, preparing for their future education at technical colleges.

Art's uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to construct and crew a rocket that will take them to the moon. Cargraves believes their combined ingenuity and enthusiasm can actually make this dream come true. But there are those who don't share their dream and who will stop at nothing to keep their rocket grounded.

Hi-fi sci-fi: explore our full list of Robert A. Heinlein titles.©1947 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Formulaic, but entertaining.

While this feels like it was written by the numbers, it is still a good, must-listen-to yarn. It captures the wonder, excitement, and dangers of exploration and science. Can't say it wasn't predictable -- you know they'll overcome every obstacle they face -- but, honestly, it didn't matter. I enjoyed this. If you want to encourage kids to get interested in STEM fields, having them listen to this book's not a bad idea.

quite dated story

spider does a good job performing but the book is quite dated. I remember it being dated in the 70s when I read it first and it is even more so now. it is still interesting though

Boys can dream

Originally reviewed at FanLit.

When I was a kid I loved the “Heinlein Juveniles.” Rocket Ship Galileo, Heinlein’s first Juvenile, is one I missed back then. It won’t hold up well today (actually, it wouldn’t have held up well when I was reading Heinlein Juveniles in the 1980s) but sometimes it’s fun to read these old science fiction stories for kids and I did have fun recently reading Rocket Ship Galileo even though I am very much aware of its flaws. Let’s remember that it was published in 1947, just after World War II and well before we managed to put a man on the moon.

Ross, Art, and Morrie (I love those retro names!) are three teenage boys who love science and each have special geeky skills. When Morrie’s uncle, a Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist, discovers that the boys are building a rocket ship, he gives them some funds and a little help and off they all go to the moon. When they get there they discover that they’re not the first ones there. The humans who’ve covertly come before have dangerous plans. Can the boys stop them before the bad guys destroy the Earth?

Okay, that’s just fun, right? In the year 2013 it’s impossible to take Rocket Ship Galileo seriously. I don’t know if they did back in 1947. I suspect not because I doubt anyone thought it was possible to build a space ship in your backyard or to mail order space suits and asbestos shoes. Still, boys can dream, and Rocket Ship Galileo is definitely an exciting dream, especially when you get to not only fly to the moon, but kill Nazis and save the Earth on top of it all. Too cool!

Other than the outlandishness of it all, the main problem with Rocket Ship Galileo is all the teachy technobabble. Some of it is real science, some of it is made up (I hope kids can tell this apart), most of it is dated, and a lot of it is boring because it’s delivered in Uncle Cargraves’ lessons or the boys recitation of what they’ve previously learned. Heinlein has an issue with this in his adult novels, too. If the lessons don’t turn kids off they might enjoy experiencing the fantasies of teenage boys in the 1940s.

The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Spider Robinson who has the tone just right. When he narrates the boys’ parts he sounds appropriately wide-eyed, innocent, and geeky. Golly, Mr. Robinson, great job!

Classic Early Sci-fi!

Read most of Heinlein's books as a kid. As an adult found this early tale quite fun. The story manages to build good characters. It moves fast for each step in the story. Today I think authors would make the books longer and give more details. Though his science and story details were descriptive. Obviously based on the knowledge of the time. The ending is like coming to a sudden stop of a roller coaster ride. Overall, quite happy to have redone this. The narrator did well too.

Vintage Heinlein

Worth the time to read. Nazis, moon men, nuclear powered rocket ships, genius kids. This book has it all. Written in 1947, closely after WWII and the defeat of the Nazis and their use of rockets as weapons, Heinlein made many fantastic predictions about rockets, space travel. and space exploration that in 2023 find way off base, moon men indeed. However, it is very interesting to get a look into the 1947 mind of a true visionary. A fun, if unrealistic, story. One of Heinlein's early works.