The sources for the following stories come from personal scans and OCR-ings of books. The formatting may not follow that of the original typeset editions. Note that there are many words with alternate (British) spellings and even some in the U.S. versions that look wrong, but have been left for historical purposes.
The covers are from either the books in my possession or from Internet sources, and have been extensively cleaned and fixed of cover tears, scratches and misaligned placement on scanners (cut off edges or corners being the chief result).
DESCRIPTIONS AND MORE BOOKS WILL BE ADDED TO THESE AS I LOCATE ANY MORE OF THEM.
(1957) U.S. version of Blastoff at Woomera.
Mysterious domes have been sighted in a crater on the Moon. Suspecting that they may be the work of Communists, the British Government must launch a man into space in order to photograph them from outside the atmosphere. Unfortunately their rocket was not designed to carry a man, and so someone unusually short is required.
Enter Chris Godfrey, a four foot ten and a half-inch sixth-former at Wolverton Grammar School. Will he survive the trip? The less than reliable rocket is to be launched from Australia -- but there may be a Soviet traitor among the ground crew!
There are a number of surproses in store for Chris as he must pose as his mentor's nephew in order to fool the possible spy, leading to force some people to suspect his very presence at a top secret facility!
(1959) U.S. paperback version of Operation Columbus
The race is on to place a man on the moon to examine the wreckage of the alien domes destroyed in 'The Domes of Pico'. The Russians are training a fanatical young Communist, Serge Smyslov, for the task, while the West's candidate is a cheery young American, Morrison 'Morrey' Kant. Unfortunately Morrey breaks his arm shortly before take-off in a riding accident and Chris Godfrey takes his place.
The two spaceships land on the moon virtually simultaneously. Chris can walk about in his spacesuit, however Serge is sealed up inside a 'lunar rover' vehicle. While Chris ventures towards the radioactive debris of the domes to retrieve a sample, Serge, brainwashed by his Red superiors, uses a rocket to destroy Chris's ship. The blast overturns his lunar rover, leaving him unable to return to his ship, while Chris is trapped by a strange, creeping grey mist that may be connected to the domes' builders...
(1962) The Original Faber printing.
An unmanned probe returning from Venus has crashed in a tropical jungle. A spore on board has germinated and the Earth is fast becoming covered in a grey mould, that chokes the life out of anything it touches.
The only solution is to send Chris, Morrey, Serge and Tony, and a scientist, Pierre, on a mission to Venus to attempt to find something that will destroy the fungus. Work on the Venus probe, being built on the new permanently manned moonbase, Lunaville, is accelerated and the launch is ahead of schedule.
However, the plan to skim through the Venusian atmosphere to pick up samples fails and a landing has to be made! As the ship sinks into the Venusian surface, all fuel reserves are needed to take off again. The crew are heading for Earth - but will have no fuel left to decelerate when they arrive......
(1963) The original Faber printing.
Now that near Earth and Venusian travle has been accomplished, the first man to travel close to Mars, Van der Veen, has been driven mad by the strange, horrible voices he heard babbling over his radio.
With little to go on, Chris, Morrey, Serge and Tony are detailed to investigate. Launching from space station Alpha, they touch down on Mars and find traces of an dead civilisation. Then however, a disembodied Martian appears, as nothing more than a point of light.
He seems friendly, but when he demands that his people be taken back to Earth, things get worrying...
(1968) U.S. hardbound version of The Mohole Mystery
[Based on a real U.S. project to drill a 5,000 meter hole into the Earth's crust in the early 1960s]
A drilling project in Dudley in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom hits a cavern 20 miles beneath the surface of the Earth and detects strange microbes.
UNEXA send Russian Serge Smylov down to search for other forms of life in a rocket-propelled capsule but it is damaged when it hits the bottom of the cavern.
Then, strange creatures start attacking him... It becomes a race afgainst time ot see if Chris Godfrey can get down and rescue Serge!
This book provided to the group by S. Reitci. THANKS!
(1969) The original Faber printing.
"Chris Godfrey and his three companions were dead!" So begins Nearly Neptune, as we learn in flashback of the fire that badly damages the ship, and its apparent break-up, monitored by radar from Earth. Needless to say, our four friends have not perished, but it seems impossible for them to make it back to Earth when the hypothermia equipment has been irreprably damaged...
NOTE: Considered to be one of the best of the series... however.
Comparing the UK and US editions of this book, the text of the US version seems to have been quite heavily edited, usually by chopping sentences from the end of paragraphs. Interestingly, in the first chapter there is a reference to USEXA, the 'United States Exploration Agency', but, perhaps realising that the acronym for this would be somewhat unfortunate, the editor left further references to the United Nations Exploration Agency unchanged.
(1971) U.S. hardbound version of First Contact?
Radio signals begin flooding Earth from the vicinity of Uranus and two ships, each with a crew of four young men, are sent to investigate.
The signals are traced to an alien spaceship on Ariel, one of the moons of Uranus. The ships land and all but two enter the alien vessel to converse with the apparently friendly humanoid alien, Vari.
One of the two remaining crewmen believe the alien to be malevolent and becomes determines to destroy it, even if doing so will mean nobody gets back to Earth.
This book provided to the group by Steven Reitci. THANKS!
(1973) The Weekly Reader Book Club edition.
Chris has become deputy-director of UNEXA, and thus will not accompany Tony, Morrey and Serge on their next mission -- to be the first men to actuall see the planet Pluto and to discover the reason for small changes in its orbit. And, a reolutionary atomic engine will get them there in record time.
When they arrive, they discover the cause is a super-dense wandering planet, which has been named Planet X.
They then make a horrifying discovery -- not only have their fuel tanks developed holes during the journey, but Planet X is on a course and will decimate the solar system! There is only one hope for them, and it is the longest long shot possible!
This was the final pure "exploration" novel in the series as it them became more a space mystery and adventure series.
More to come if I can find any. If you have some of the other books in this seris and would like to send them to me for careful scanning and posting (with credit given) please email me:
Here is the entire list of the Chris Godfrey books, including the alternate (US) names:
Blast Off at Woomera (1957) aka Blast Off at 0300
The Domes of Pico (1958) aka Menace from the Moon
Operation Columbus (1959) aka First on the Moon
Moon Base One (1960) aka Outpost on the Moon
Expedition Venus (1962)
Destination Mars (1963)
Terror by Satellite (1964)
Journey to Jupiter (1965)
Mission to Mercury (1965)
Spaceship to Saturn (1967)
The Mohole Mystery (1968) aka The Mohole Menace
Nearly Neptune (1968) aka Neptune One is Missing
First Contact? (1971)
Passage to Pluto (1973)
Tony Hale, Space Detective (1973)
Murder on Mars (1975)
The Caves of Drach (1977)
The Last Disaster (1978)
The Blue Aura (1979)
The Dark Triangle (1979)
The Glass Men (unpublished)