The Colors of Space

He had been just a kid then; twelve years old, and all excited about seeing Earth for the first time—Earth, the legendary home of mankind before the Age of Space, the planet of Bart's far-back ancestors. Bart Steele and Tommy Kendron had graduated together, the day before, from the Space Academy of Earth. Something might come, in the far future, of his acceptance, but he wouldn't get the benefit of it. One day, at last, he stood at the viewport, watching Procyon Alpha nearing.