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Science Fiction
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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
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In the story, Cyrano resolves to visit the Moon, to test his belief that the Moon was a planet in its own right, just like the Earth. His first attempt at propulsion makes use of vials of dew, which when exposed to sunlight should bear him upward.
However, this effort was only partially successful; he ascended far into the sky, and then returned much later, after the Earth had turned under him, resulting in a landing in Canada.
Cyrano eventually falls down to the surface of the moon, landing in a large tree which had broken his fall.
Here is a 17th century engraving showing Cyrano in his ascent to the Moon:
![]() This appears to be the first instance of the idea of a man-made propulsion system being used to power a craft from the Earth to another celestial body. However, I note that in his 1638 book The Man in the Moone, Francis Godwiin writes about a voyage to the Moon in a craft powered by Gansas, birds that annually migrated there. Thanks to christoph and others who wrote in with this suggestion. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
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