Houston , Houston , Do You Read ? `` Houston , Houston , Do You Read ? `` is a novella by James Tiptree , Jr. ( pseudonym of Alice Sheldon ) . It won a Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1976 and a Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1977 . The novella first appeared in the anthology `` Aurora : Beyond Equality '' , edited by Vonda N McIntyre and Susan J Anderson , published by Fawcett in May of 1976 . It was subsequently reprinted several times and in 1989 was published in a Tor Double mass market paperback ( number eleven in that series ) with the flipside novella `` Souls '' by Joanna Russ ( ISBN 0-8125-5962-2 ) . It remains Tiptree 's most famous and most reprinted story . Spoiler warning : Plot and/or ending details follow . The story portrays a crew of three male astronauts launched in the author 's near future ( i.e. , within a few decades of the story 's publication date ; hence , presumably late 20th or early 21st Century ) on a circumsolar mission in the spaceship Sunbird . A large solar flare leaves their craft damaged and their position in space uncertain . They make repeated attempts to contact NASA in Houston , to no avail . Soon , however , they begin to pick up strange communications on their radios . They are puzzled by the fact that most of the voices are female , and a strong Australian accent predominates . They overhear odd conversations about personal matters ( including the birth of a cow back home ) as well as slang terms and references unknown to them . Various theories are discussed by the perplexed astronauts : hallucinations ? A hoax ? A hostile power trying to trick them ? They record and playback the conversations over and over , trying to ascertain their source . Soon , they realize that these unknown people are aware of them and their craft and are offering to help . At first , the Sunbird 's commander , an authoritarian Christian fundamentalist , refuses to communicate with them , remaining suspicious of their origin and motives . As they continue to plead with the astronauts to accept their rescue offer , the three men are chilled to hear their mission referred to in historical terms . Gradually , they come to realize that they have not merely been thrown off-course in space , but in time as well , and that their flight was presumed lost centuries ago . They are given bare details of an Earth that is very different from the one they left : an undefined cataclysm has reduced the human population to a mere few million . NASA and Houston no longer exist . Eventually , the Sunbird agrees to rendezvous with the spaceship Gloria to allow the three astronauts to spacewalk to safety . The Gloria is an enigma to the three astronauts . Besides having an almost all-female crew , the ship seems to be very haphazard and cluttered , with plants and even animals on board . None of the technology on board seems very advanced from what they left behind in their own time , and some of the ship 's functions are even powered by crew members riding stationary bikes . Their culture shock is compounded by the very cryptic and incomplete answers they are given by the Gloria 's crew concerning the fate that has befallen Earth . Little by little , the three men start to gather clues from both observations and slips of the tongue . They note that while crew members often refer to their `` sisters , `` there is never any talk of husbands , boyfriends , or families back on Earth . There are two twins on board ( both oddly named Judy ) , yet one seems older than the other . The one male on board , named Andy , seems strangely unmasculine . Technology , and science and culture in general , seems to be relatively unadvanced considering the long period of time that has elapsed . Even while playing chess with the Gloria 's senior member , it is noted that only one new opening has been developed in 300 years . Eventually , the truth is reluctantly shared with them . A plague wiped out most human life , including all the males . Only about 11 , 000 people survived , mostly concentrated in Australasia and a few other areas of the planet . They reproduce by cloning , and all living humans are clones of the original 11 , 000 genotypes . Babies are raised communally in creches , and all members of each genotype are enouraged to add their story to a book that is passed on for the inspiration and education of future `` sisters. '' Certain genotypes are given early androgen treatments ( hence , the pseudo-male crew member 's name ) to increase bulk and strength for heavy physical tasks . The resulting almost communal maleless society has settled into a peaceful , yet strangely moribund pattern -- without major conflict , seemingly happy , yet more or less marching in place , with very little advancement . The Sunbird 's crew members react to these revelations in different ways . The fundamentalist commander considers this to be a great tragedy , and believes himself chosen by God to lead these females back into proper order and growth , with men as family heads and leaders . Another drools at the prospect of millions of women who have not known a man 's physical love , and fancies himself as being the object of desire for them all when he returns . But they are soon drugged into submission and realize that they are most certainly not headed home , and the crew of the Gloria do not intend for them to survive . They are perfectly happy living without men , and the astronauts are merely being studied , pressed for any useful information , and ( in the case of the overamorous astronaut ) used to obtain sperm samples , presumably to introduce fresh genetic material and create new genotypes . Categories : Science fiction short stories | Hugo Award winning works | Nebula Award winning works 