Blast Off at Woomera

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Blast Off at Woomera is a young adult science fiction novel, the first in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1957, in the US by Criterion Books in 1958 under the title Blast Off at 0300 and in the Netherlands in 1960 by Prisma Juniores under the title "Ruimtevaarder nummer één" ("Astronaut number one")

[edit] Plot summary

Strange objects have been sighted on the moon near Mons Pico and suspecting a communist plot the British Government hurriedly plans a mission to photograph the domes from above closer range. The rocket is not large enough to send a man - enter Chris Godfrey, a 17-year old science whizz with an interest in rocketry and crucially less than 5 feet tall !

The launch site is Woomera Rocket Research Station in South Australia but there may be a Soviet traitor amongst the ground crew...

The book pre-dates the first actual usage of satellite imagery by two years, and manned spaceflight by four years.