[Pontiac]

I had mentioned A. E. van Vogt’s story “Far Centaurus,” originally published in 1944, in which a crew arrives at Alpha Centauri only to find its system inhabited by humans who launched from Earth centuries later. I alluded to this story yesterday.

This story seems to me to have a moral failing of the later society.

Would it not be a true moral failure of the later society knowing the history of the earlier launch not to have sent a rescue mission to the earlier mission.

The later society must assume that the earlier mission would be in danger of death on such a long journey. It would be a moral imperative to attempt a rescue of those on the earlier mission especially if it was a Generation Ship.

[LibWhacker]

The later society may not know about the accomplishments of the earlier society.

[mindburglar]

Very good point. Future mankind were jerks in that story.

[Alas Babylon!]

I thought the same thing!

The question is, at what point in the voyage of the slow vessel would the faster ship technology(ies) take place?

Relative to the slow ship, that is. 1/3? 1/2? 2/3? of the journey? Or maybe only in the last year of the slow vessel? Where real time is dilated by tens of years?

But yes, indeed—since they knew when the slow vessel left—they should have been able to track it, match its speed, and deliver the news!