Worlds of Tomorrow August 1963 – Fritz Leiber Space Tug Cover Art
Appearing on the August 1963 cover of Worlds of Tomorrow, this illustration accompanies Fritz Leiber's story 'A Hitch in Space.' A skeletal, modular spacecraft dominates the foreground against a deep cosmic backdrop of planets and star fields. The vessel's exposed framework — featuring bell-shaped rocket nozzles, spherical fuel tanks, and an open crew compartment — exemplifies early 1960s hard-SF aesthetic: functional, unglamorous, and technically plausible. The cold vacuum of space and distant planetary bodies reinforce the magazine's commitment to serious, speculative science fiction.
The cover is solidly visionary with its skeletal deep-space vessel and cosmic backdrop, landing squarely in eye-catching hard-SF territory. It's closer to a serious astronomical diagram than an exploding space station — cerebral spectacle over lurid chaos.
“WORLDS OF TOMORROW AUGUST 1963 40¢ TO THE STARS J.T. McIntosh THE IMPOSSIBLE STAR Brian W. Aldiss ALL WE MARSMEN Philip K. Dick THE NEW SCIENCE OF SPACE SPEECH Vincent H. Gaddis A HITCH IN SPACE by FRITZ LEIBER”
