The Way to Amalthea

"The Way to Amalthea" (Russian: Путь на Амальтею, Put' na Amal'teyu) also known as "Destination: Amaltheia" is an early science fiction short story by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky written in 1959. An English translation called "Destination: Amaltheia" was published in a collection of the same name of Russian sf writers in 1963 by Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow.[1][2]

Plot summary

A cargo spaceship, propelled by a photon engine with a large reflective mirror ("sail"), visits the Jupiter system to deliver a cargo to a manned science station on Amalthea. Damaged by meteorites, the spaceship falls into Jupiter, but survives the pressure and floats in the dense atmosphere; the crew manage to work around the damaged mirror and start the main engine to escape Jupiter and finally reach Amalthea.

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