Adventures in the Far Future and Tales of Outer Space by Donald A. Wollheim

An entertaining collection of science fiction novellas, mostly from the early 1950's.

The Wind Between the Worlds - Lester Del Rey (Galaxy Science Fiction, 1951)
A matter transmitter portal becomes jammed open and is transmitting Earth's atmosphere to another world. Scientists race to solve the problem before the Earth is doomed. Fairly lightweight hokum but enjoyable enough.

Stardust - Chad Oliver (Astounding 1953)
An interstellar ship discovers a lost generation ship and have to find a way to set them back on course without revealing their existence and jeopardising their morale or depriving them of their chance to reach their destination on their own. Flawed, but interesting. Generation ships were a big thing in the fifties. The concept seems to have run out of steam of late.

Overdrive - Murray Leinster (Startling Stories 1952)
A passenger ship's insterstellar drive cuts out leaving the ship stranded. Luckily an insterstellar secret agent of sorts is on board and suspects a sinister plot. Leinster's mostly very readable, and doesn't disappoint here, although one suspects that this was planned as a longer piece, or part of an ongoing sequence.

The Millionth Year - Martin Pearson (Science Fiction Stories 1943)
Possibly put in as a page-filler, this rather lacklustre tale from 11 years previously sees a man transported a million years into the future and then is returned in spirit to watch human history over the intervening period. 

The Chapter Ends - Poul Anderson (Dynamic Science Fiction 1953)
Unsurprisingly perhaps, the best contribution come from Poul Anderson. Humanity have spread out to the stars and have come to an agreement with a race who occupy gas giants that they will occupy separate areas of the galactic region. This means that Earth, which only has a small remnant of Humanity, will need to be evacuated, One man, however, has decided to remain and live out his life alone. Poignant and character driven.

“Doorway in the Sky”
Ralph Williams (Astounding Science Fiction , 1953, as “Bertha”)

Predating Clarke's '2001' we have the concept of an artefact left in Earth orbit to trap (for whatever reason) the first humans to visit. Although the author has encompassed the idea of weightlessness he has failed to envision that vomiting into a bucket in zero gravity would not be the answer. 

“Here Lie We” - Fox B. Holden (Startling Stories , 1953)

A Bradbury-esque and romantic tale of our first meeting with the Martian race. They are keen to teach humanity everything they know, because their species is doomed.

“Operation Mercury” - Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction , 1941, as “Masquerade”)

A very interesting early work from Simak here, set on a Mercury power plant, where the manager is about to solve the mystery of the local natives; the energy beings known as 'Roman Candles'. It's possibly only Clifford Simak who could make an installation on the Planet Mercury seem like a cosy US mid-west homestead.

“Lord of a Thousand Suns” - Poul Anderson (Planet Stories , 1951)
Vintage Space Opera in which a military commander on a planet besieged by rebels discovers a cache of Elder Race doomsday weapons and a strange helmet. The helmet transfers the digitised consciousness of Daryesh, Lord of a Thousand Suns, into his head, and it's a bit of a tight squeeze.

“Behind the Black Nebula” - L. Ron Hubbard (Astounding Science Fiction , 1941 as “The Invaders”)
Despite his somewhat tarnished reputation Hubbard was a fairly decent writer in his day. For its time this is a very imaginative story about a mine situated 'Behind the Black Nebula' which is a rich source of Hubbard's particular brand of unobtainum. The mine is besieged by monstrous creatures and is up to a new technician to discover what they are and how to neutralise them. The answer is clever and unexpected, although the basic premise of the nebula and the mine needs to be taken with a very large pinch of salt.

(Roddy Williams, GoodReads)