"Space Jockey" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

.James Gifford. 2000. ''Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion''. Sacramento
Nitrosyncretic Press
. Part of his

Future History A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction. Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, whi ...

series, it originally appeared in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', April 26, 1947, and was collected in ''

The Green Hills of Earth "The Green Hills of Earth" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. One of his Future History stories, the short story originally appeared in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (February 8, 1947), and it was collected ...

'' (and subsequently ''

The Past Through Tomorrow ''The Past Through Tomorrow'' is a collection of science fiction stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1967, all part of his '' Future History''. Most of the stories are parts of a larger storyline about the future r ...

''). The story is set in the near future. It realistically depicts a day in the life of a rocket pilot who pilots commercial passenger spacecraft on scheduled runs between the Earth and the Moon. It shows the pilot dealing with problems such as an unruly child of a VIP visiting his control room, recalculating the trajectory when the spoiled brat sends the rocket off course, facing a choice between jettisoning cargo and not having enough fuel to reach the destination, and coping with the demands of superiors. The story begins with a contentious scene between the pilot and his wife, who is unhappy about his irregular schedule and wants him to take a ground job. Interspersed between the exciting events on the spacecraft, the pilot writes and rewrites a letter to his wife, in the process trying to decide whether he should abandon the job to which he is so well suited. The story ends on the Moon, where the pilot is offered a more lucrative position, with the condition that he relocate to Luna City. He calls his wife and is relieved when she agrees.

References

External links

*
Full text of story
at

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Short stories by Robert A. Heinlein 1947 short stories Works originally published in The Saturday Evening Post {{1940s-sf-story-stub