space travel and science fiction have long been connected. writers of science fiction, as well as creators of science fiction tv shows and movies, often study the latest scientific concepts and use or adapt them to help portray what future space travel, space ships, and space stations might look like. in turn, science fiction writers such as jules verne have dreamed up ideas and concepts of space travel which inspired generations of scientists and engineers to develop new space technologies.
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jules verne 1828-1905 was a french author and a pioneer of science fiction. in his novels from the earth to the moon 1865 and around the moon 1870, a kind of space ship is fired at the moon from a 900-foot-long cannon. at one point in their journey, the three travelers are deprived of gravity and float around their amall ship. rockets are used to slow the ship down before landing on the moon.
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given the time in which he was writing, verne's predictions were very good. the size of his space ship was about the size of the first one to go to the moon, the apollo, minus its large rockets. both verne's ship and the apollo carried three people into space. furthermore, rockrts were indeed used by the apollo to slow its descent. however, verne's ship shot his travelers into space, which never could have worked. the intense pressure of firing a space ship the way one wouldfire a bullet from a gun would cause great physiological damage to the crew.
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