Project Gutenberg 2008-01-01 Public domain in the USA. 204 Cory, John Egocentric Orbit Produced from Astounding Science Fiction May 1960. Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Egocentric Orbit" by John Cory is a science fiction short story that was likely written during the mid-20th century. The story explores the psychological effects of space travel and the profound experiences of an astronaut orbiting Earth. It delves into themes of isolation and the human perspective on the universe, as the protagonist reflects on his solitary journey and the transformative nature of seeing the Earth from space. In this narrative, the astronaut undergoes the routine of space exploration, making checks on his capsule while contemplating his surroundings. As he completes multiple orbits, he experiences a mix of exhilaration and introspection, feeling a crushing sense of individuality and importance at being alone in the cosmos. While he is aware of the two previous astronauts who had returned from their missions altered and withdrawn, he believes that his perceptive abilities heighten his appreciation of the beauty and vastness around him. Ultimately, he chooses to disable the controls meant for his return, succumbing to the allure of the infinite, suggesting a profound psychological change regarding his existence and identity in relation to the universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 52.2 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Science fiction Short stories Psychological fiction Space flight -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 32741 2025-06-10T06:19:29.200335 text/html 28526 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 74925 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 137711 2025-06-10T06:19:33.673321 application/epub+zip 136456 2025-06-10T06:19:31.200362 application/epub+zip 73818 2025-06-10T06:19:29.863354 application/epub+zip 283544 2025-06-10T06:19:35.447308 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 276681 2025-06-10T06:19:32.837343 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 115030 2022-09-11T08:23:35.661611 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 26360 2025-06-10T06:19:28.928332 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26277 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 9944 2008-01-01T07:53:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19184 2025-06-10T06:19:35.609302 application/rdf+xml 10867 2025-06-10T06:19:30.435325 image/jpeg 2912 2025-06-10T06:19:30.149354 image/jpeg 136012 2025-06-10T06:19:29.213328 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog