What was the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s science-fiction trilogy known as the Space Trilogy?

Out of the Silent Planet was the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy.

Published in 1938, the novel follows philologist Elwin Ransom after he is abducted and taken to Malacandra, a planet humans call Mars. The story combines space travel with linguistic, theological, and philosophical ideas. Ransom learns that Earth is known as Thulcandra, the “silent planet,” because it has become separated from the wider harmony of the solar system.

The two sequels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Together, the three books are also called the Ransom Trilogy, after their protagonist.

Lewis wrote the trilogy partly in response to the scientific romances and space fiction he admired. His friend J.R.R. Tolkien influenced the project, and the two men discussed the possibility of writing stories about space travel and time travel.