Heh, yeah, one of the ridiculous details that made it from the book was, an unnamed unobtainium type metal needed for the engines, but was in short supply. There was going to be a drawing of lots from among the few thousand people sequestered in the compound (I think it was in Michigan) to build the rocket, the winners would go, the rest would stay behind and die with everyone else. Very late going, another deposit of the metal was found somewhere, making it possible to build a second, even larger rocket, so that everyone on the project could be saved.
> Tidal waves sweep inland at a height of 750 feet (230 m), volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days. As a token of things to come, Bronson Alpha grazes and destroys the Moon.
The premise in the book was similar, but again, doofus-like — the two planets consisted of a smaller, Earth-sized body, being pulled along by the much larger “A” body. The calculations were said to show that when the “A” body struck the Earth, the impact would loosen the grip on the “B” body, which would enter a nice orbit around the Sun and the “A” body would, I forget, exit the Solar System, fall into the Sun, something like that.
In the sequel, the Earth team got to the planet and found that it was thawed out already (it had been in the deep cold of space for untold eons of course), still barren, but previously the home of some alien civilization. They found a wrecked vehicle on the side of the ruins of a road, and the remains of a dead alien inside.
They also discovered that German commies had built an escape rocket in secret and managed to arrive on “B”, but had somehow managed to forget to bring along any women, so they wound up having a big fight over that. Classic pulp fiction.
You have to remember that it was written in the 1930’s, well before any of the modern technology was even dreamed of. Metallurgy was still an alchemy of sorts.
This book should be re-made into a modern movie with all the computer graphics and special effects available. It would be a huge blockbuster!
The commies could be replaced with muslims....................