Project Gutenberg 2008-01-01 Public domain in the USA. 114 Cory, John Egocentric Orbit Produced from Astounding Science Fiction May 1960. Reading ease score: 52.2 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Egocentric Orbit" by John Cory is a science fiction short story that was likely written during the mid-20th century. The story explores the psychological effects of space travel and the profound experiences of an astronaut orbiting Earth. It delves into themes of isolation and the human perspective on the universe, as the protagonist reflects on his solitary journey and the transformative nature of seeing the Earth from space. In this narrative, the astronaut undergoes the routine of space exploration, making checks on his capsule while contemplating his surroundings. As he completes multiple orbits, he experiences a mix of exhilaration and introspection, feeling a crushing sense of individuality and importance at being alone in the cosmos. While he is aware of the two previous astronauts who had returned from their missions altered and withdrawn, he believes that his perceptive abilities heighten his appreciation of the beauty and vastness around him. Ultimately, he chooses to disable the controls meant for his return, succumbing to the allure of the infinite, suggesting a profound psychological change regarding his existence and identity in relation to the universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories Psychological fiction Space flight -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 32741 32626 2025-03-10T06:22:04.050914 2023-09-11T03:45:43.629862 text/html text/html 28526 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 74925 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 137720 2025-03-10T06:22:08.163925 application/epub+zip 136464 2025-03-10T06:22:05.920940 application/epub+zip 73819 2025-03-10T06:22:04.661941 application/epub+zip 283544 2025-03-10T06:22:09.756930 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 276689 2025-03-10T06:22:07.370901 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 115030 2022-09-11T08:23:35.661611 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 26360 26235 2025-03-10T06:22:03.801943 2023-09-11T03:45:43.470858 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 26277 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 9944 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20283 2025-03-10T06:22:09.891925 application/rdf+xml 10867 2025-03-10T06:22:05.204934 image/jpeg 2912 2025-03-10T06:22:04.929920 image/jpeg 136011 2025-03-10T06:22:04.059937 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog