Project Gutenberg 2016-02-10 Public domain in the USA. 168 Del Rey, Lester 1915 1993 Rey, Lester del Knapp, Leonard Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Operation Distress Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction August 1951 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Operation Distress" by Lester Del Rey is a science fiction novel written in the early 1950s. The narrative revolves around the challenges faced by Bill Adams, the first space pilot to Mars, who returns home only to find himself afflicted by an unknown and potentially fatal ailment. The book explores themes of isolation, fear of the unknown, and the fragility of human existence in the vastness of space. In the story, Bill Adams embarks on a mission to Mars but experiences severe itching and a mysterious rash during his journey back to Earth. As he grapples with the realization that he might have contracted an alien disease, the tension escalates when Earth authorities decide to quarantine him on the Moon to prevent any potential contamination. With a young, inexperienced doctor arriving to aid him, the narrative captures his physical and emotional turmoil. Eventually, it is revealed that Bill's symptoms result from an allergic reaction to cat fur, rather than a grave disease, highlighting both the absurdity of his plight and the unpredictability of space missions. The story concludes with Bill's shift from a potential hero to a man eager to keep his embarrassing ordeal a secret, ultimately blending humor with the serious undertones of space exploration. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 83.4 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Space flight to Mars -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 51393 2025-06-20T14:11:33.980139 text/html 27536 2024-10-23T00:01:49 text/html 337346 2025-06-20T14:11:36.041016 application/epub+zip 336175 2025-06-20T14:11:34.451995 application/epub+zip 75996 2025-06-20T14:11:34.192035 application/epub+zip 370838 2025-06-20T14:11:37.421987 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 364219 2025-06-20T14:11:35.803006 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 104308 2022-09-23T09:46:56.482707 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 44287 2023-09-22T08:27:57.726440 text/plain 24549 2024-10-23T00:01:49 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17745 2025-06-20T14:11:37.564994 application/rdf+xml 31988 2025-06-20T14:11:34.274049 image/jpeg 4864 2025-06-20T14:11:34.234032 image/jpeg 302896 2025-06-20T14:11:33.996123 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 More titles under McCann, Edson en.wikipedia en.wikipedia