space cadet n.
a trainee spaceman or spacewoman
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1943
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Arthur Leo Zagat
bibliography
That hatch may open again, however, at your word, to return you to Earth. I rest it on your honor as space cadets that if it should, what I say to you now will remain within the hull of the Aldebaran.
Sunward Flight in Super Science Stories Feb. 98/1 -
1948 Thrilling Wonder Stories June 125/1
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[Editorial blurb for ‘Mr. Zytzyz Goes to Mars’, by Noel Loomis:] Mr. Zytztz, however, is one of several score of plant men, the only form of life discovered on Mars when the first expedition gets there. He is befriended by a young Space Cadet, Healey, and the attachment between these two utterly different forms of life with utterly different origins, becomes ultimately one of the epics of early space travel.
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1948
Robert A. Heinlein
bibliography
Space Cadet.
(title)
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1956 Space Academy in Authentic Science Fiction Jan. 49/1
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Above all, space cadets must be physically fit. A sick man, or even a weak man, might crack up under the rigors of space flight.
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1980
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F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
bibliography
The hatchway hissed open and all the Junior Space Cadets stopped throwing zero-gravity spitballs at each other.
For Cheddar or Worse in Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan. 98 -
2002
He’s not there anymore. He’s always someplace else. I mean, he’s always been a space cadet, but he'd have his moments, you know? He’d let me in. He paid attention.
Watch xvi. 265
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2004
Peter F. Hamilton
There’s no one else left, Captain Kime. You’re the last space cadet left in the galaxy. We need you.
Pandora’s Star v. 122
Research requirements
antedating 1943
Earliest cite
A. L. Zagat
Research History
Dan Tilque and Larry Headlund pointed out that Heinlein's "Space Cadet" was published in 1948. Rick Hauptmann provided a cite from the title of the first edition.Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from an editorial blurb in Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1948.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1943 cite from Arthur Leo Zagat in Super Science Stories.
The earliest cite in OED2 had been from 1952.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.