Favorite Lines Friday

Here is a wonderful description of a view from the observation room on a ship leaving the earth from The Stars Like Dust by Isaac Asimov:

The Earth was suspended there below, a gigantic and gleaming orange-and-blue-and-white-patched balloon. The hemisphere showing was almost entirely sunlit; the continents between the clouds, a desert orange, with thin, scattered lines of green. The seas were blue, standing out sharply against the black of space where they met the horizon. And all around in the black, undusted sky were the stars.

Very nice. We’ve probably all seen a photo or video of this (I doubt anyone reading this has experienced this view from orbit), and Asimov gives a beautiful, detailed description. There’s just one thing: you see, The Stars Like Dust was published in 1950. Sputnik 1, the first anything to be launched into orbit, didn’t go up until 1957. Asimov was seeing this view in his mind’s eye. His very creative mind’s eye.