studio that intends to shoot the first movie filmed in space. As his stay in space is coming to an end Roy gets to ride the Morning Star as she makes an emergency run to the Space Hospital with a seriously ill man. As Roy and his friends return to the Inner Station on a different ship they become so engrossed in Commander Doyle's story of his participation in the first expedition to Mercury that they fail to notice that their ship is off course: it's heading away from Earth rather than toward it. As they swing around the Moon they refuel their ship from a container catapulted to them from the crater Hipparchus, then they return to the Inner Station after making a short stop at one of the Relay Stations in geostationary orbit to get extra oxygen. Roy has to spend several extra days at the Residential Station before he returns to Earth. There he meets the Moore family, Martian colonists coming to Earth so that the children can attend college. After listening to their talk about their home and seeing the pictures that they show him, Roy changes his future plans: he intends now that he will go beyond the space stations when he graduates from college and head out to the planets. Reception Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas praised Islands in the Sky as "a detailedly plausible and accurate fictional tour". Floyd C. Gale called it "superbly detailed". In the Kirkus Reviews of 15 June 1952, the reviewer wrote: References External links Arthur C. Clarke on Extra Terrestrial Relays Go to the Internet Archive to read the book online. 1952 science fiction novels 1952 British novels British science fiction novels Novels set on Mercury (planet) Novels set on the Moon Novels by Arthur C. Clarke Space exploration novels Sidgwick & Jackson books