294:, the legendary first ship to set out for Venus over a century before and thought to have been lost en route. According to the log, the crew perished from disease. With the help of the natives, the cadets recommission the ship and fly it back to Venus's South Pole colony. Dodson is initially disappointed when they are not treated as heroes, but then realizes that what they accomplished was simply what was expected of Patrolmen.
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American
Federation" and serves its interests. Later, Matt's mentor in the Patrol makes him understand that if such an unlikely dilemma should arise, his commanding officer would lock him in his room rather than expect him to participate in the attack. The mentor uses this scenario to force Matt to confront the personal and political issues involved in the institutional control of atomic weapons in a more mature way.
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These particular natives had never seen human beings before, until old classmate Burke showed up in a prospecting ship. He had taken the matriarch of the local clan hostage when she refused to give him permission to exploit a rich deposit of radioactive ores. The locals promptly attacked the ship and
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comic books, television series, radio show, comic strip, and novels that were popular in the early 1950s. Greene had originally submitted a radio script for "Tom Ranger and the Space Cadets" on
January 16, 1946, but it remained unperformed when Heinlein's novel was published. Heinlein influenced the
354:, Matt requests a transfer, but is dissuaded by his mentor. The mentor, dividing human motivations into three types, explains that the Patrol, which has the responsibility of holding the ultimate weapon and keeping overall peace, is manned by a certain sort of person, the man of ideals (its motto is
459:
The popular meanings of "space cadet" later shifted in popular culture away from astronaut-in-training to indicate, by the 1960s, an "eccentric person disconnected with reality" (often implying an intimacy with hallucinogenic drugs) although by the 2010s, drug use was rarely implied by this phrase,
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as a whole and to the sentient species of the Solar System. They are told the stories of four Patrol heroes/martyrs who exemplify this quality. One of them, Rivera, leaves orders to annihilate his hometown if he is held captive there during negotiations. Heinlein later expanded another of these
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In contrast, the
Marines, the service branch which deals with ordinary military affairs, are trained to prize unquestioning loyalty and bravery as the highest ideals, and are deliberately recruited from the type of person who seeks glory and excitement. Matt belongs to the former category. The
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The young, idealistic Matt feels that he should be able, if the need arose, to emulate Rivera and destroy his own Iowa hometown. His father tells him such a need would never arise, since the Patrol's cosmopolitan allegiance is little more than a sham and in fact it is controlled by the "North
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Jensen gains the matriarch's trust and convinces her that they are honorable and civilized, unlike Burke, and the
Patrolmen are released. Unfortunately, neither the lander nor Burke's ship is flightworthy. To their amazement, the matriarch takes the stranded humans to the carefully preserved
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Matt dug a candy bar out of his pouch, split it and gave half to Jarman, who accepted it gratefully. "You're a pal, Matt, I've been living on my own fat ever since breakfast -- and that's risky. Say, your telephone is sounding. "Oh!" Matt fumbled in his pouch and got out his phone.
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as intensely hot and (incorrectly, as is now known) swampy, but habitable. The
Venerians are at first thought to be primitive, but it is later revealed that they have a high level of technological sophistication, though developed along radically different lines than that of humans.
460:
nor was low intelligence implied; "space cadet" was more simply associated with "spacing out," wandering from present concerns, especially of others present, and being a "space case." Both the "trainee astronaut" and "person regarded as being out of touch with reality" entered the
282:, giving the crew barely enough time to get out before it disappears in the mud. With Thurlow comatose, injured when the lander fell over, Jensen assumes command. He contacts the sentient, usually friendly Venerians, but the entire party is taken captive. They soon find out why.
34:
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gave the book a favorable review as "a first-rate historical novel of the near future," saying "So subtly has the scientific detail been interwoven with plot and action that the reader never realizes how painstakingly it has been worked out."
570:"Space cadet: "1980s+; probably for the 1950s TV program Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, which followed the adventures of a group of teenage cadets at a 24th-century space academy, thought of humorously as being far out, way out, etc.""
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In 2075, teenager Matt Dodson applies to join the prestigious
Interplanetary Patrol. After a number of physical, mental, and ethics tests, he is accepted as a cadet. He makes friends with fellow recruits William "Tex" Jarman,
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so that they can take the ship and the news of the startling discovery back to Earth quickly. With the remainder (including all three cadets), he plots a slower, fuel-efficient, elliptical voyage back to Earth.
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There is also a subplot revolving around the issue of what it means to be a good soldier. Discouraged by the intellectual demands of his Patrol training, and attracted to the glamor and esprit de corps of the
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as "a long step forward. ... The characters are stronger the background is carefully built, original, and convincing, the story suspenseful enough." Williamson noted that
Heinlein was "perfecting the
258:. They find it, but all aboard are dead, the unlucky victims of a fast-moving object that punctured the ship when the armored outer airlock door was open. Before the accident, a researcher on the
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evolution of "Tom Ranger" into "Tom
Corbett" and launched his student astronaut title's common mention; they share credit for the popularity of both formal and later slang uses of "space cadet."
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against breaking the peace. Matt, on a visit home, causes a family argument when his parents refuse to believe that the Patrol—and especially their son—would actually bomb Iowa.
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The phone "was limited by its short range to the neighborhood of an earth-side relay office". A cadet avoids having to talk to his family while traveling by packing his phone in luggage.
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for further training. Burke eventually either resigns or is asked to leave, and goes into the merchant service, but the remainder do well enough to be assigned to working Patrol ships.
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Then, he receives an urgent message to investigate an incident on Venus. He sends
Lieutenant Thurlow and the cadets to the planet's surface. The lander touches down on a
341:, both literally, in discussions about the cosmopolitan racial makeup of the (all-male) Patrol, and metaphorically, in its description of conflict with the Venerians.
466:, though by 2014 Oxford noted that, in American English, the phrase had also recouped the positive connotations originally meant by Heinlein and Joseph Greene, the
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about Matt Dodson, who joins the Interplanetary Patrol to help preserve peace in the
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television series and radio show made "space cadet" a household phrase. By 1955,
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writer: "An enthusiast for space travel, typically a young person."
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Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization
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and inspired the media franchise around the character
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The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana
568:Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD; Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.
204:. It was published as the second of the series of
491:"Space (v.) entry in Online Etymology Dictionary"
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574:The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition
1370:American novels adapted into television shows
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365:The novel contains an early description of a
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231:-born Oscar Jensen, and Pierre Armand from
1079:The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
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264:planet which blew up to form the asteroids
246:Dodson, Jarman and Jensen ship out on the
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302:The Patrol is entrusted by the worldwide
589:Society for the Study of Social Problems
507:Jack Williamson, "Youth Against Space,"
270:transfers half the crew to the repaired
212:, including the 1950s television series
932:For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs
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386:Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels,
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616:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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400:form that shapes the whole series."
188:. The story translates the standard
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333:Written almost a decade before the
192:story into outer space: a boy from
16:1948 SF novel by Robert A. Heinlein
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1365:Novels adapted into radio programs
1355:American novels adapted into plays
1350:American novels adapted into films
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1330:Children's science fiction novels
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1087:The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein
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1325:American science fiction novels
782:The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
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1320:Novels set in the 21st century
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357:Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
335:American Civil Rights Movement
306:government with a monopoly on
1:
755:The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
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1340:Novels by Robert A. Heinlein
1028:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
262:had found evidence that the
21:Space Cadet (disambiguation)
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1310:1948 science fiction novels
1071:The Robert Heinlein Omnibus
913:Have Space Suit—Will Travel
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1360:Novels adapted into comics
996:Stranger in a Strange Land
798:The Pursuit of the Pankera
523:Astounding Science Fiction
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1122:Take Back Your Government
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790:To Sail Beyond the Sunset
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699:The Man Who Sold the Moon
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1335:Space exploration novels
1236:Robert A. Heinlein Award
1052:Job: A Comedy of Justice
707:The Green Hills of Earth
551:"Oxforddictionaries.com"
468:Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
443:Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
428:Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
412:Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
215:Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
1315:Novels set in the 2070s
1138:Grumbles from the Grave
774:The Number of the Beast
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905:Citizen of the Galaxy
723:Methuselah's Children
614:title listing at the
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1305:1948 American novels
1200:Andrew Jackson Libby
980:The Door into Summer
747:Time Enough for Love
450:spoke the phrase on
423:Grosset & Dunlap
19:For other uses, see
1345:Novels set on Venus
1226:Heinlein Centennial
1036:I Will Fear No Evil
940:Beyond This Horizon
825:Rocket Ship Galileo
557:on August 21, 2014.
417:The novel inspired
149:Rocket Ship Galileo
38:First edition cover
28:
1020:Farnham's Freehold
956:The Puppet Masters
897:Time for the Stars
865:The Rolling Stones
731:Orphans of the Sky
663:Robert A. Heinlein
526:, May 1949, p. 157
436:In popular culture
404:P. Schuyler Miller
382:Critical reception
343:Venus is described
206:Heinlein juveniles
182:Robert A. Heinlein
84:Heinlein juveniles
48:Robert A. Heinlein
26:
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1272:Starship Troopers
1259:Virginia Heinlein
1185:Delos D. Harriman
1095:Expanded Universe
988:Starship Troopers
889:Tunnel in the Sky
849:Farmer in the Sky
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120:Publication place
64:Cover artist
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160:
147:
27:Space Cadet
1210:Hazel Stone
1149:Screenplays
1133:(1954/1992)
1125:(1946/1992)
1114:Non-fiction
1063:Collections
972:Double Star
967:(1955/2006)
935:(1939/2003)
833:Space Cadet
814:Scribner's
622:Space Cadet
611:Space Cadet
392:Space Cadet
268:Aes Triplex
248:Aes Triplex
237:school ship
210:Tom Corbett
173:Space Cadet
54:Illustrator
1299:Categories
1177:Characters
1012:Glory Road
841:Red Planet
474:References
272:Pathfinder
260:Pathfinder
252:Pathfinder
176:is a 1948
162:Red Planet
104:Scribner's
816:juveniles
312:deterrent
254:, in the
180:novel by
137:Paperback
133:Hardcover
100:Publisher
1279:Tribbles
374:"Hello?"
319:humanity
280:sinkhole
233:Ganymede
196:goes to
72:Language
1252:Related
1103:Requiem
352:Marines
292:Astarte
131:Print (
75:English
1274:(film)
1219:Legacy
1167:(1953)
1159:(1950)
1141:(1989)
1106:(1992)
1098:(1980)
1090:(1966)
1082:(1959)
1074:(1958)
1055:(1984)
1047:(1982)
1044:Friday
1039:(1970)
1031:(1966)
1023:(1964)
1015:(1963)
1007:(1963)
999:(1961)
991:(1959)
983:(1957)
975:(1956)
959:(1951)
951:(1949)
943:(1948)
916:(1958)
908:(1957)
900:(1956)
892:(1955)
884:(1954)
876:(1953)
868:(1952)
860:(1951)
852:(1950)
844:(1949)
836:(1948)
828:(1947)
801:(2020)
793:(1987)
785:(1985)
777:(1980)
758:(1978)
750:(1973)
742:(1967)
734:(1963)
726:(1958)
718:(1953)
710:(1951)
702:(1950)
339:racism
298:Themes
164:
151:
80:Series
44:Author
509:Algol
304:Earth
229:Venus
90:Genre
1284:Grok
440:The
239:PRS
194:Iowa
115:1948
625:at
421:of
326:".
1301::
593:24
591:.
572:.
493:.
482:^
369::
359:).
135:,
655:e
648:t
641:v
576:.
539:.
497:.
139:)
23:.
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