Vanguard to Venus

Really more like 2 stars, but I gave it 3 for sentimental reasons. First started reading it when I checked it out from the library around 1960, but had to return it before I finished. Found it again in a used book store in the mid-1970s, bought it, finally finished it back then, and kind of disappointed but glad to have finished. Bought it again recently and reread it. Even less impressed this time.
The book was published just before Sputnik and the speculative science has not aged well. There is some nostalgic charm in that. But it is not especially well written. There are plot holes you could drive a story through, sideways. The cop out ending arrives before the world building really gets off the ground. Interesting only as a period curiosity.
As an aside, when I checked the book out from the library in the 6th grade, I'm sure the “Vanguard” in the title attracted me because I thought it referred to the Vanguard rocket that the U.S. used in some of its early satellite launches, and some spectacular launch failures. Wrong again 12-year old me! The Vanguard rocket was a rather small fragile beast: 3.5 feet in diameter and about 60 feet tall, it was never going to put anything much bigger than a football in orbit. Besides, in the book, it seems we're dealing with the British space program anyway.
Yeah. Never mind.