SOLVED. 60s/70s YA Sci-Fi landing Party Includes Blue Faced Alien [s]

[Mercia]

I borrowed this book from the library when I was 8-10, so mid-70s, but as it was a library book it might have been published pre-70s. It may not have been YA, as I borrowed adult books (no not those sort of adult books) from a very young age. Of course in those days books where either children or grown-up books, there was no in between, but I went in between the two sections of the library anyway, being a natural rebel.

A Spaceship lands on an unknown planet (it might have been a crash landing) and the party of I think mostly human (and probably Caucasian) crew are accompanied by a blue faced alien. He was the humourless moral compass of the group but not the leader, very much in the Star Trek Spock mode. They explore a city on the planet going from empty building to building. I cannot remember any more but this is one of the very few books I remember from the most book hungry time of my life. I would love to know what it is called.

[Brenda]

Andre Norton wrote a ton of books with that premise. The exploration of abandoned planets and civilizations seems to have been in almost every science fiction book she wrote. I don't specifically remember a blue-faced alien, but I do remember she had a few books with a variety of aliens in the exploration party.

ETA: Maybe The X Factor, with the alien Zacathan scientist? If it's not, that one is still one of my favorites of hers.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

The Last Planet (another Andre Norton book) is also a possibility.

[Mercia]

I had forgotten the name of Andre Norton, but that is defiantly an author whom I read as a child. I will look them up online. Thanks Brenda and Ann.

[Mercia]

I am fairly certain that it is Andre Norton The Last Planet (aka Star Rangers). Although there are no digital copies to check I will mark this as solved and shelve in YA. So I guessed right in thinking that it was an old book when I borrowed it, about 20 years old even then 40 years ago.

Thanks Ana (and Brenda) that is the answer to a long-held answer, now to see if I can get hold of the book.

Mercia

[Brenda]

Mercia, it's available for free here, packaged together with another of hers:
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-396-star-...

[Mercia]

Thanks Brenda