Jules Vern Capsule pictured in the 1872 edition

In 1865 Jules Verne published his book “From the Earth to the Moon”, a story that begins just after the Civil War with the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts,  builds an enormous gun to blast a giant bullet containing three people into space and around the moon. They build the giant gun in a 900 foot deep, 60 foot wide hole in “Tampa Town” Florida which would have been difficult for anyone knowing Florida, any hole more than 50 feet deep is filled with water but they succeed with the story ending with the capsule being blasted into space.   Partially inspired by Jules Verne’s story, US scientists conceived Project Orion using atomic bombs instead of a cannon to blast the capsule into space.

Updated: 09-23-2022

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