Aelita is a science fiction novel by Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, narrating the journey of Earthlings to Mars. The bulk of the work was written during the author’s years in emigration, with the first edition published in Petrograd in 1923 and subsequently reissued multiple times.

Between 1935 and 1938, Tolstoy undertook a substantial revision of the text for Detgiz and Goslitizdat, refining its aesthetic form while eliminating numerous mystical motifs and elements. As a result, the work shifted in genre, assuming the character of a novella.

Thus, Aelita belongs to that distinctive group of Tolstoy’s works which exist in two markedly different versions, while preserving the same narrative foundation.