the background is carefully built, original, and convincing, the story suspenseful enough." Williamson noted that Heinlein was "perfecting the bildungsroman form that shapes the whole series." P. Schuyler Miller gave the book a favorable review as "a first-rate historical novel of the near future," saying "So subtly has the scientific detail been interwoven with plot and action that the reader never realizes how painstakingly it has been worked out." Tom Corbett, Space Cadet The novel inspired Joseph Greene of Grosset & Dunlap to develop the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet comic books, television series, radio show, comic strip, and novels that were popular in the early 1950s. Greene had originally submitted a radio script for "Tom Ranger and the Space Cadets" on January 16, 1946, but it remained unperformed when Heinlein's novel was published. Heinlein influenced the evolution of "Tom Ranger" into "Tom Corbett" and launched his student astronaut title's common mention; they share credit for the popularity of both formal and later slang uses of "space cadet." In popular culture The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet television series and radio show made "space cadet" a household phrase. By 1955, Jackie Gleason spoke the phrase on The Honeymooners television show in an episode called "TV or Not to TV," original airdate October 1, 1955. The popular meanings of "space cadet" later shifted in popular culture away from astronaut-in-training to indicate, by the 1960s, an "eccentric person disconnected with reality" (often implying an intimacy with hallucinogenic drugs) although by the 2010s, drug use was rarely implied by this phrase, nor was low intelligence implied; "space cadet" was more simply associated with "spacing out," wandering from present concerns, especially of others present, and being a "space case." Both the "trainee astronaut" and "person regarded as being out of touch with reality" entered the Oxford English Dictionary, though by 2014 Oxford noted that, in American English, the phrase had also recouped the positive connotations originally meant by Heinlein and Joseph Greene, the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet writer: "An enthusiast for space travel, typically a young person." References External links 1948 American novels 1948 science fiction novels Fiction set in the 2070s Novels set in the 21st century American science fiction novels Children's science fiction novels Space exploration novels Novels by Robert A. Heinlein Novels set on Venus American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into plays Novels adapted into comics Novels adapted into radio