Rocket Ship Galileo, a juvenile science-fiction novel by the American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1947, features three teenagers who participate in a pioneering flight to the Moon.

They use a cleared area in a military weapons test range in the desert for their work, despite prying and sabotage attempts by unknown agents.

The boys also find evidence of an ancient lunar civilization, and postulate that the craters of the Moon were formed not by impacts from space, but by nuclear bombs that destroyed the alien race.

When the base's Nazi leader shoots the pilot in order to silence him, Cargraves convenes a trial and finds him guilty of murder.

The boys radio the location of the hidden Nazi base on Earth to the authorities, leading to its destruction; they return as heroes.

"[3] Andrew Baker wrote: "'Rocket Ship Galileo' shares with numerous works composed before the advent of the actual Space Program a gross underestimation of the huge costs and investment of resources needed for any jaunt outside Earth's gravitational field.