Robert Heinlein entered American literature in the early 40s and had a profound influence on the development of the science fiction genre in it. Here's how Arthur C. Clarke evaluates his work: “Bob Heinlein is one of the founders of modern science fiction and the first explorer of many of the topics that have become central to it over the past thirty years. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the influence he had on the development of the genre can only be compared with the influence exerted by Wells, who also sowed the seeds, the seeds of which were enthusiastically reaped by subsequent generations of science fiction writers. "According to most authoritative researchers of American fiction, and the writers themselves science fiction writers, it was Robert Heinlein who laid the foundations of the most interesting, significant and fruitful direction of American science fiction literature - social fiction. Heinlein’s influence on the work of such famous authors as Clifford Simak, Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, and many others was expressed not only in the fact that they successfully developed the themes and plots proposed to him, but also, above all, in that Heinlein was the first of them to raise in the genre of science fiction serious problems of human relationships in society, human development in society, the relationship between the development of science and social relations and conditions. Robert Heinlein is a very complex and controversial writer, his works are often gloomy, and in some works were influenced by the author's conservative views... At the same time, in Heinlein's best stories and novels, the writer's talent turns out to be higher than his subjective views. He has faith in man, in that the human mind will overcome all obstacles, even if it takes thousands of years of hard work. Therefore, it is extremely interesting to bring to the attention of the Soviet reader an early novel by Robert Heinlein, created in the first and most fruitful period of his work. A novel, the plot of which was subsequently developed by such famous writers as Harlan Ellison, Clifford Simak (the latter in the story “The Generation That Achieved the Goal”, well known to Soviet readers), and many others. The work, which later became known as Stepchildren of the Universe, was first published as two separate stories (The Universe and Common Sense) by Estounding Science Fiction in 1941. In the two-volume Science Fiction Hall of Fame published in 1973, the story "Universe" was included in number of the eleven best science fiction stories ever written in America. The selection for the two-volume book was made by members of the Science Fiction Writers Association of the United States. According to Harlan Ellison, Heinlein himself came up with the plot of this work when he was reading the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. “The expedition to Proxima Centauri, organized by the Jordan Foundation in 2119, was the first in history, an attempt to reach the nearest stars of our Galaxy. One can only guess about the fate that befell the expedition...” Frank Buck. Romantics of modern astrography, publishing house "Lux Limited".