Mid/late '80s paperback about a boy on a space station who steals a shuttle to visit a devastated Earth.

[CyberCecil]

Humans are living on a space station orbiting Earth (or possibly a colony on the Moon). They are forbidden to go down to the planet because there had been some kind of cataclysm (war, plague, or what have you) years/decades/centuries ago. A boy and his pet disobeyed the rules and stole a craft and went down to the surface where they met a girl and had all sorts of misadventures.

I read this book in the mid/late-'80s. I remember it being geared toward younger teen-aged readers and not written by a well known author. It was in English and I recall the cover being a picture of the boy and his pet in the shuttle with Earth in the window.

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[TomMazanec]

Do you remember what the pet was? Cat? Dog?

 

[CyberCecil]

I want to say it was a dog, but it could also have a been some genetically engineer creature too.

I remembered something else too, but it could be from an entirely different book altogether. I think his mother was either a head scientist on the station or head administrator. It's also possible the boy went to Earth to visit his father who was there doing some research.