Race for the Moon #2

In "The Thing on Sputnik 4," a mysterious triangular meteor captured by a space station unleashes a chain of unsettling events when Captain Kelly probes its interior, uncovering a walnut-shaped object that defies explanation. As lab technician investigates, eerie beeps and violent explosions erupt—culminating in Captain Kelly witnessing a long-lost Sputnik satellite pulsing with life and a strange space creature clinging to it. The walnut object then reunites with the creature, and together they vanish into the void aboard the meteor.

In "The Golden Rocket," a mysterious spacecraft drifts near a space station in 1958, its origin unknown. When the commander hesitates to board, the crew investigates and discovers the craft is filled with strange, unidentifiable materials—and a radio receiving signals from Pluto, a place thought to be lifeless.

In "Lunar Trap," Ward Stratton finds himself falsely accused of sabotage by Colonel Alexandrovna in the depths of Lunar Crater Tycho. As she orders him to the site of the damage, a sudden attack by a moon creature forces them to flee into a cave—where the truth of the assault begins to unravel. With danger closing in and loyalty in question, the unlikely pair must survive the moon’s hidden threats before the next move.

In "Island in the Sky," Bill Fenner awakens aboard a mysterious vessel after a deadly accident in space, his body inexplicably preserved and returned from Jupiter’s Red Spot. Though he remembers nothing of the journey, a strange organism in his brain shields him from harm—granting him a near-invincible form and a lifespan stretching beyond a thousand years.

In "The Face on Mars," a group of explorers scale a colossal Martian statue, only for Fisher to stumble through an eye socket into a hidden, verdant city teeming with giant Martians. When a fleet of alien ships obliterates the city, the survivors gather to point toward a mysterious planet nestled between Mars and Jupiter—then launch a missile to destroy it. As the group passes through the asteroid belt, remnants of the planet’s wreckage float in silence, and Fisher suddenly finds himself back on the barren surface of modern-day Mars, struggling to breathe.