Isaac Asimov is well-known as a science fiction writer, but in the 1950s he wrote a series of novels for young adults known as the Lucky Starr Adventures under the pseudonym "Paul French." They were his only writing using a pen name. When publishers reissued them, he insisted they change the author credit to "Isaac Asimov writing as Paul French" to dispel rumors he was embarrassed by them (and, perhaps, to capitalize from the fame of the Asimov brand).

Asimov wrote six Lucky Starr adventures. In 1985, Doubleday brought three of them together in this anthology:

• Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury, 1956
• Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter, 1957
• Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn, 1958

These were the last three of the series. The early novels had a boy's "space ranger" mentality reminiscent of the Tom Corbett series of books, but Asimov chose to write the last three more in the "Asimov" style, using his trademark combination of science fiction, mystery-story elements, and real science.

The jacket painting is by noted science fiction / fantasy illustrater Steve Ferris.  He claims as his main influences Frank Frazetta, J.R.R. Tolkien, Norman Rockwell, and Walt Disney, and his work focuses on the human form. In addition to Doubleday, Ferris has created illustrations for Ballantine/DelRey Books, Berkley/Ace Books, ABC, Miramax, and Iron Crown, among others, and is the recipient of the Spectrum 3 and BOLI Awards. His primary tools are Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

Ferris created this specific painting as one part of a two-book set for the Doubleday Books Science Fiction Book Club. As an example of how this kind of work is done, the publishing company's art director for the project, John Lisco, developed the blue-purple color scheme beforehand as part of the overall book design, and assigned the color scheme to Ferris to execute.