sentences:  Five years in the future (1960), four scientists (zoologist Dr. Richard Gordon, geologist Dr. Nora Pierce, medical specialist Dr. Ralph Martin, and chemist Dr. Patrica Bennett) are selected as astronauts to travel to a planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's solar system.The crew begins studying the planet to see if it is suitable for a possible Earth colony.After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a kinkajou which they refer to as a lemur, crows which they call vultures, and an alligator, they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake, and prehistoric mammals.