Tom Corbett Space Cadet

In November 2024, we received a shipment of what was supposed to be all Tom Swift books. Instead, two of the books were Tom Corbett stories. We'd seen one of these before, but decided to do a bit of investigating before taking the time to add them to our database. It turns out that Tom Corbett was partially inspired by Robert Heinlein's Space Cadet (1948), his second juvenile novel, and certainly worthy of inclusion here.

Joseph Greene had 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. Greene then reworked his original radio script into a script for a daily newspaper adventure strip, which was never produced, but also developed Tom Corbett—Space Cadet, which was.

Although Tom is not the main character in Henlein's novel, he takes center stage in the Tom Corbett—Space Cadet stories that were depicted on TV, in radio shows, these books, comic books and strips, and other media in the 1950s.

The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro, and Roger Manning (originally; later, T.J. Thistle), cadets at the Space Academy as they train to become members of the Solar Guard. The action takes place at the Academy in classrooms and bunk rooms, aboard their training ship the rocket cruiser Polaris, and on alien worlds, both within the Solar System and in orbit around nearby stars.

These eight books from 1952–1956 were published by Grosset & Dunlap, written by unknown authors under the pseudonym Carey Rockwell, with Willy Ley as technical advisor. All but the first book credit Louis Glanzman as illustrator.

1. Stand By For Mars (1952)
2. Danger in Deep Space (1953)
3. On the Trail of the Space Pirates (1953)
4. The Space Pioneers (1953)
5. The Revolt on Venus (1954)
6. Treachery in Outer Space (1954)
7. Sabotage in Space (1955)
8. The Robot Rocket (1956)

Also, in 1953 a slim children's book titled Tom Corbett's Wonder Book of Space (or Tom Corbett: A Trip to the Moon) was written by Marcia Martin and published by Wonder Books.

To learn more about the television series, you can visit the Wikipedia article: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (TV-series) (1950–1955).