Fiction to Fact Date: 02.26.1865 Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel From the Earth to the Moon inspired rocketry pioneers like Robert Goddard and Konstantin Tsiolovsky to work out the real mathematics and engineering of space flight. One-hundred-and-four years later, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to walk on the Moon.
This illustration from one edition of the book shows passengers in Verne's space ship - fired to the Moon from a giant cannon on Earth - enjoying their first taste of weightlessness.
