Ray Bradbury wrote a story about a returning astronaut. His space ship burned up on reentry and his son watched it become a star. What was the name of the story and when was it written?

I'm not sure on this one. I'm sure someone will recognize it. "The Rocket Man" is about a family who dreads their astronaut father being killed in space. They don't want it to be on the moon, because then they couldn't look at the moon again, etc. In the end, he is killed when his ship is pulled into the sun by its gravitational pull. Kind of similar. A story I really enjoy. I remember reading this one back in high school, it impacted me so much.

I think Viking might be combining two stories.

In Rocket Man, there is the emphasis on the relationship between the Father and his family, and in the end, his ship falls into the sun.

But in the ending of another story, Kalidescope, a random child looks up, sees the arc of light created by the main character burning up in the atmosphere and tell his parents that he's just seen a falling star.

I think this may be what Viking was looking for. Both stories are in Illustrated Man, making them easier to confuse.

DanB. You're probably right that the two are being combined. I love Kaleidoscope, also.

Any chance Rocket Man directly inspired Elton John's song of the same name?

PS When oh when will I stop getting server errors after posting?

[This message has been edited by WritingReptile (edited 02-03-2003).]

I have been racking my brains all weekend to find this story. It is Kaleidoscope...it gave me a great deal of comfort in the wake of the Challenger disaster in 86. The story was incredible and has been with me since the years I was in high school and did my junior project on Ray Bradbury's writings. It is eerily prophetic in the light of the Columbia disaster as it was upon re-entry that the doomed astronaut was making his final thoughts and wondering if he really did any good, make any difference as he slowly saw his comrades and disintegrated vessel pass him by. I would like to think of the seven astronauts as shooting stars, as visionaries who did what so many of us cannot or would not do, that their wish for peace as Col Rolon so gracefully put it, come true, that we do not take our lives for granted. Just like the tough and durable shuttles which are remarkably fragile, as Columbia so sadly revealed...so is our race. May these seven brave souls go in peace...

"Kaleidoscope" is in "The Illustrated Man," "The Vintage Bradbury," "The Stories of Ray Bradbury," and, in play form, in "Pillar of Fire and Other Plays."

Every time I hear "Rocket Man" I become more sure it is inspired by Bradbury's story.