Usually called Morrie. Part of Donald
Cargraves' rocket crew, licensed as a rocket pilot. He was the official
astronomer of the Galileo
Marching-and-Chowder Society. His family objected less to his working on
the moon rocket than the other boys'. Morrie's uncle, Bernard Abrams, was a
surgeon.
Federal ranger in the district where Donald
Cargraves acquired the use of rocket testing ground.
Donald Cargraves
Art
Mueller's uncle, a noted atomic physicist. He recruited Art, Ross
Jenkins, and Morrie
Abrams to help him build a moon rocket, overcoming political opposition to
complete the project. Not only was the launch a success, but on the Moon he
and the boys discovered and defeated a secret Nazi base, returning to Earth as
heroes.
Central New Mexico Insane Asylum
Federal ranger Buchanan's
name for the proving ground where Donald
Cargraves built his moon rocket.
Landing site of the City of Detroit (formerly the Wotan).
First Lunar Expedition
Nazi group that reached the moon and established a base before the Galileo.
They bombed that ship after Art
Mueller made radio contact with them, to prevent word of their existence
reaching Earth. They were part of a plan to re-establish the Third Reich and
conquer all of Earth.
Name of the moon rocket built by Donald
Cargraves with the help of Art
Mueller, Ross
Jenkins, and Morrie
Abrams. It was destroyed by a Nazi ship after they landed on the moon.
Other names proposed for it and rejected include Einstein, Starstruck VI,
Pioneer, and Thor.
Ross
Jenkins' father, a retired electrical engineer.
Martha Jenkins
Ross
Jenkins' mother, who argued in favor of Ross going to the Moon, after
initial opposition.
Ross Jenkins
His parents owned the land on which the Galileo
Marching-and-Chowder Society tested rockets; he was the Club chemist
specializing in rocket fuel. His father initially forbade him to postpone
school to go to the Moon with Donald
Cargraves, but did allow him to work on the rocket during the summer.
After Ross' mother changed her mind, Ross was also permitted to go to the
Moon.
Joe (no last name)
The crew's name for the ballistic computer in the Galileo.
Second class sergeant-technician in the Nazi moon base. He was captured in
the Galileo
crew's counterattack, but was killed by his superior officer to keep him from
instructing the Americans in the Nazi moonship's operation.
Member of the Galileo
Marching-and-Chowder Society. He and his mother ran a store. A member of
Donald
Cargraves' crew building and piloting a rocket to the Moon, he was the
photographer for the rocket tests as well as a ham radio operator.
Art's
late father. He had been sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis for
refusing to do research for them. He was released through his American wife's
efforts, but died soon after.
[mentioned in passing] Testing ground for rocket pilots.
Starstruck
Series of rockets built and tested by Ross
Jenkins. They usually exploded during the test.
Swanson (no first name)
State Patrol sergeant who worked crowd control at the moon rocket launch.
He was sympathetic to the Galileo
crew; when a process server attempted to stop the launch, he took the man into
custody.
Captain Taylor (no first name)
[mentioned in passing] Either a state patrolman or a forest
ranger, assigned to the locale where Donald
Cargraves built the moon rocket.
Lieutenant colonel and executive officer in the Nazis' First
Lunar Expedition. Captured by the Galileo
crew after their ship was destroyed, he killed his sergeant to keep him from
teaching the Americans how to pilot the Nazi ship but was himself forced to
help them.
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."