In “The Cave of Night” by James Gunn from the Feb. 1955 issue of Galaxy, a spaceman’s craft is hopelessly damaged, and the whole world waits breathlessly as a rescue is organized. “The Cave of Night” anticipates the drama of Apollo 13, the tragedy of the Challenger shuttle disaster, and even the ‘fake Moon landing’ conspiracy theorists.
It’s a story that holds up well. The story is a reflection by a journalist, an old friend of the man who has, to the world’s surprise, become the first man in orbit and who, to the world’s horror, is destined to live out his final days in orbit, unable to return.
But everything is not as it seems…
It’s really a perfect story for an audio adaptation and the small cast does a great job with it.
Enjoy!
X-Minus One was the radio extension of Astounding Science Fiction. It’s one of my favorite of the old time radio shows that you can find floating around Archive.org.
It featured full-cast renditions of stories—and not just stories that published within the pages of Astounding.
X-Minus One: The Cave of Night by James Gunn - 28:18