Torchship 01

Cover for the 1956 Scribners edition. In Robert A. Heinlein's 1956 novel, "Time for the Stars," the Long Range Foundation ("LRF") is a non-profit organization that funds expensive, long-term projects for the benefit of mankind that nobody else will touch. It has built a dozen exploratory starships (torchships) to search for habitable planets to colonize. The vessels accelerate at one gravity for a year or more to reach speeds just short of the speed of light, so the voyages will last many years. It is found that some twins and triplets can communicate with each other telepathically. The process seems to be instantaneous and unweakened by distance, making it the only practical means of communication for ships traveling many light years away from Earth. Before announcing the discovery, the foundation first recruits as many of these people as it can. Testing shows that teenagers Tom and Pat Bartlett have this talent. The problem is that one can go and the other must stay at home on Earth.