Humans love exploring the unknown.



Once we scoured land, sea and air… it only made sense that we turned our eyes to the stars.



“We choose to go to the moon II not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”



Today, with private companies going to space almost regularly, it’s easy to lose sight that this incredible human achievement was once… just science fiction

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Let’s find out how the science fiction, inspired science reality.



In French sci-fi pioneer Jules Verne’s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, members of a gun club launch themselves in a projectile from a cannon to the moon. Because...why not?



Verne attempted to do the actual math and work out what it would take to launch a vehicle to the moon.



As it turned out, he was surprisingly accurate!



With striking similarities to NASA’s Apollo 11 command module,



Verne’s fictional “shell” was hollow and made mostly of aluminum, and was crewed by 3 people.



It launched from Florida and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean …



Like Apollo 11 would just over 100 years later, in July 1969.



After Verne’s novel came H.G. Wells, who wrote The First Men in the Moon at the turn of the century, and French filmmaker Georges Méliès, whose 1902 silent film “A trip to the Moon”, is often called the first sci-fi film.



These stories inspired real-life rocket scientists to continue working on the problems of space travel

By the 1950’s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were in a space race.

“The Soviet Union is launching the first earth satellite.”

“Sputnik 1 flashes its radio signals from space.”

Three months after Sputnik, the U.S. launched Explorer 1 -- the first American space satellite

“Off into space – man, that takes real teamwork! And here’s a team of junior spacemen with an out-of-this-world breakfast.”

With the development of space flight, public interest in space science reached new heights by the 1960’s, inspiring future engineers and sci-fi creators alike.
This was a time when the likes of Ursula Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke, were writing some of their most prolific work.

During the 1969s, space appeared everywhere in pop culture – in fashion, home design, toys, even in our cereal bowls.
“New, Post Count Off. The new way to keep you in shape for the space age.”

So why has this idea of space travel, captured people’s imaginations all the way to the breakfast table?
“Sugar crisp! It’s a honey of a snack, you know?”
Because an idea of limitless space, leads to limitless possibilities for us. And as we’ve grown as a culture, so have our aspirations.
It’s a sentiment reflected by rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Hold on… Let’s rewind a little bit.
Yeah! Him. Remember him from earlier in the episode? He said…
The Earth is the cradle of humanity. But humankind cannot stay in the cradle… forever.