The title, Moonraker, was not the first choice of Ian Fleming. In fact, Fleming first suggested “The Infernal Machine”, and later “The Inhuman Element”, or “Wide of the Mark”. The publishers, however, favoured “The Moonraker Sense”, “The Moonraker Plan”, or “Bond & The Moonraker”. Other titles that are known to have been suggested include: “Mondays are Hell”, “Hell is Here”, “The Moonraker”, “The Moonraker Plot”, “The Moonraker Secret”, and “Too Hot to Handle”. Ultimately, it was Fleming who settled on “Moonraker”.

For an unknown reason, Moonraker‘s title for the first US paperback publication by Permabooks in 1956 was changed to Too Hot to Handle. One possible reason might have been to avoid confusion with the then-current stage play The Moonraker by Arthur Watkin (which was made into a film of the same title in 1958). Similar to Casino Royale, however, the novel was subtitled (Moonraker) on the cover. Too Hot To Handle is notable for being the only Fleming Bond novel that was “Americanized”, exchanging British idioms for American ones such as “knave of hearts” for “jack of hearts”, “lift” for “elevator”, etc. The title was later changed back to Moonraker in 1960. Discounting magazine publication of some of Fleming’s short stories and the novel The Spy Who Loved Me, this was the last time a Bond novel was retitled for American book publication until John Gardner’s COLD in 1996.