Project Gutenberg 2016-02-18 Public domain in the USA. 63 Ludwig, Edward W. 1920 1990 Ludwig, Edward William Thorne Spacemen Die at Home Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Spacemen Die at Home" by Edward W. Ludwig is a science fiction novel written in the early 1950s. Set in a future where interplanetary travel is becoming a reality, the book primarily explores themes of ambition, the intrinsic pull of the stars, and the personal sacrifices that come with the pursuit of dreams. It reflects on the duality of human desires—the longing for exploration versus the longing for stability and companionship. The narrative follows Ben, a young man freshly graduated from the U.S. Academy of Interplanetary Flight, as he grapples with the choice between a life of adventure as a spaceman or a more grounded existence on Earth with the woman he loves, Laura. Through his interactions with Stardust Charlie, an aging spaceman who embodies both the glory and the grim realities of life in space, Ben reflects on the costs of cosmic exploration. After Charlie's unexpected death and the emotional turmoil that follows, Ben ultimately chooses to stay on Earth, opting for a conventional life filled with love, family, and security—a poignant reminder of the sacrifices often made for one's dreams. The story captures the essence of existential dilemma, poignantly emphasizing that not all dreams can be fulfilled without losing something precious in the process. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories Space travelers -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 54275 54280 2024-09-21T11:42:41.848439 2023-09-22T08:46:57.619429 text/html text/html 50663 2016-02-18T14:13:18 text/html; charset=us-ascii 130819 2016-02-18T14:13:18 text/html; charset=us-ascii application/zip 145308 2024-09-21T11:42:43.713417 application/epub+zip 144238 2024-09-21T11:42:42.223447 application/epub+zip 86550 2024-09-21T11:42:42.022425 application/epub+zip 183045 2024-09-21T11:42:44.989418 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 175342 2024-09-21T11:42:43.491401 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 117858 2022-09-23T10:26:42.660680 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 47361 47266 2024-09-21T11:42:41.700434 2023-09-22T08:46:57.430427 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 47194 2016-02-18T14:13:16 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18560 2016-02-18T14:13:18 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19014 2024-09-21T11:42:45.114399 application/rdf+xml 22106 2024-09-21T11:42:42.086419 image/jpeg 4147 2024-09-21T11:42:42.054424 image/jpeg 132108 2024-09-21T11:42:41.859443 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