Nancy Drew at KSC

[KaiYeves]

(The embarassment smiley has nothing to do with this thread, my mouse is just acting up.)

Earlier today, I was re-reading The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, one of the Nancy Drew mysteries. This one was published in 1971, and the publisher apparently had caught "Apollo fever".

The story starts off with Nancy flying to what was then Cape Kennedy to investigate a client of her father's who has been accused of bringing explosive oranges (yes, you read that right, oranges with explosives inside) into KSC.

Her host family acts suspicious, and they have a boat called the Starbeam, which is one of the coolest names ever, but I digress...

There's "a moon-shot" about a week from the day Nancy arrives. We never find out the name of the flight (Probably Apollo 15, as Nancy is on summer vacation) or the crew, but Nancy and her friends see the Saturn on the pad when they take a tour of KSC. The guide tells them about the history of KSC, starting with the first Bumper rocket to be launched from there, and gives shout-outs to Tiros and Telestar.

They see the VAB, the measurements of which are accurately given by the guide. Bess, Nancy's food-loving gal pal, thinks astronaut food sounds great. George, Nancy's tomboy friend, says that she wants to be an astronaut, to which Ned replies "How about letting us boys go first? We'll tell you how it is."
Um, thanks but no thanks, Ned.

While investigating the titular mansion, Nancy finds a telescope pointed at the launch pad, through which she can see the Saturn. In the basement, she later discovers a lab with a "transmitting antenna". This is essentially a death ray that the bad guys are planning to blow up the rocket with on launch day. They're working for some foreign country that's never named.

The bad guys catch Nancy and her boyfriend Ned and tie them up, then leave them on a six-inch wide ledge over a boiling hot pool. Nancy's friends get worried that she isn't back yet and call the police, who come and save her. We hear the rescuers yell "Open up! Police! NASA agents! FBI!" Agents?

The cops arrest all the bad guys and the launch goes as planned. All in all, this is a great book, and an adventure I really wish I could have. As Nancy says "The Kennedy Space Center means a lot to the whole world." and it's "Absolutely facinating and utterly unbelieveable."

[NGCHunter]

With regard to using a transmitter as a "death ray" to blow up a saturn V on launch, I wonder about the possibility of attempting to crack the range safety destruct code by firing random tones until the correct sequence is found. Of course this necessitates knowing which tones the RSS receiver is listening for. My guess is that the computer equipment of that time did not have the speed necessary to go through enough possible combinations of tones during the first two launch stages (the S-IC and S-II were the only ones with RSS receivers I believe).

[KaiYeves]

My guess is that the computer equipment of that time did not have the speed necessary to go through enough possible combinations of tones during the first two launch stages (the S-IC and S-II were the only ones with RSS receivers I believe).

Yeah, it was probably the "energy beam" sort of death ray.

[Jigsaw]

Interesting factoid: Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion was actually first published in 1941; the KSC 1971 version is one of the "modernized" updated rewritten versions, which all true Nancy Drew aficioinados despise utterly, and which has nothing in common with the original except the modified title, "Of" instead of "At".

Which explains a bit of the hackwork ("NASA agents", trendy Apollo references, exploding oranges plot). It was just part of the ongoing attempt, starting in the 1960s, to "modernize" ND and as the publisher saw it, appeal to a new audience of girls.

Nowadays the old-fashioned classics go for plenty on eBay and Alibris, but you can't give away the modern updated versions.

[KaiYeves]

Seeing as the update has space exploration in it, I like it just fine. Apollo is always trendy with me!

[nomuse]

So is this "new" Nancy Drew or "new new?" Ned's being an ***, but that doesn't tell you anything (he always was a dead weight). Asking because as far as I'm concerned the series started going downhill in the late fifties. The latest revamps are just.....eww. (But at least not as bad as the Hardy Boys, who went all Miami Vice and started toting uzis.)

Speaking of rockets, anyone else here ever read any of the slightly later Rick Brandt stories? I did love me some Spindrift Island, and the science wasn't bad.

[Nadme]

I read that Nancy Drew novel many years ago. Maybe I should re-read it.

Bess, Nancy's food-loving gal pal, thinks astronaut food sounds great.

I always did like Bess. We think a lot alike.

George, Nancy's tomboy friend, says that she wants to be an astronaut, to which Ned replies "How about letting us boys go first? We'll tell you how it is."
Um, thanks but no thanks, Ned.

On a similar note, I'm a huge fan of Gothic romance and horror novels, of the late 1940s to mid-1970s era. However these novels are for adults [not implying explicit erotic content, btw; they're simply geared for an older reading audience].

My Gothic book blog:

http://garnetnight.blogspot.com/

Jigsaw wrote:

Interesting factoid: Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion was actually first published in 1941; the KSC 1971 version is one of the "modernized" updated rewritten versions...

Oh yes, I'd forgotten many Nancy Drew stories were updated. Good of you to point that out.

"Open up! Police! NASA agents! FBI!" Agents?

"Secret NASA - agent man! Secret NASA - agent man!" I can hear those words in that old song now...

[KaiYeves]

So is this "new" Nancy Drew or "new new?" Ned's being an ***, but that doesn't tell you anything (he always was a dead weight). Asking because as far as I'm concerned the series started going downhill in the late fifties. The latest revamps are just.....eww.

It's the "old new", the 70's revamp. I like the new Girl Detective series that they're publishing now.

[Paul Beardsley]

"Secret NASA - agent man! Secret NASA - agent man!" I can hear those words in that old song now...

Was that one done by Devo? "Secret Agent Man" which many think was to do with Danger Man/The Prisoner?

I read a Nancy Drew this year. Terrible piece of work, it was, but I might try another as they're all by different writers, I believe.

[Nadme]

Was that one done by Devo? "Secret Agent Man" which many think was to do with Danger Man/The Prisoner?

Johnny Rivers:

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/jo...agent_man.html

[I should note that I inserted "NASA" as a play on original wording, as you probably already surmised]

I read a Nancy Drew this year. Terrible piece of work, it was, but I might try another as they're all by different writers, I believe.

Some are good, some aren't. But it's been a long time and I can't recommend one off the top of my head; sorry.