Which C.S. Lewis science-fiction novel begins with a journey to the planet Malacandra?

Out of the Silent Planet begins C.S. Lewis’s journey to Malacandra.

Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel in Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy, also called the Space Trilogy. Its protagonist, Elwin Ransom, is kidnapped and taken by spacecraft to the planet Malacandra, known to Earth’s inhabitants as Mars. The novel combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological ideas.

On Malacandra, Ransom encounters intelligent species whose societies differ sharply from the corrupted human civilization represented by his kidnappers. The book’s imagined language and cultures help Lewis question assumptions about human superiority and colonial expansion.

The next two novels are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. Perelandra is set on another planet, while That Hideous Strength returns largely to Earth. “Space Trilogy” identifies the three-book sequence, not the title of the first novel, which is why those answers should not be treated as interchangeable.