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Cover of Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space

Tom Swift's space station features a rocket ship hub for docking as many as 12 rockets at a space outpost. The cover artwork of Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space reveals some technical oversights. Note the crewman exiting from a hatch in the rocket's fuel tank/engine compartment. This would be impossible. Though the astronauts are weightless, the tool-bearing spaceman stands erect near the hatch as though standing on Earth. The claim is often made that the astronaut wears magnetic grappling space boots. If this were the case, the floating astronaut also would be standing erect on the ship's fuselage. Three of the four space workers have no safety tethers. Since they, also lack a manned maneuvering unit, they are in grave danger of being lost in space.

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