The Pioneers of Space 1.1 - The concept of the sky to the Moon

Around 300 A.C. Alexander the Great, told that he was attacked by two flying shields . After this episode in Greece Timoleon saw a flashlight flying in the sky. Icarus is a fictional character in the fifteenth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses , even if it did not exist , however, is the brainchild of Ovid (43 BC -18 ) .

In " The Metamorphosis" Icarus talking about talking about the man who began to imagine the sky as accessible. Envious of the birds tried to imagine the acquisition of the ability to fly. He began to think differently to his way of approaching to the world above it. At that time it was still believed that the earth was flat and that all the planets and satellites , including the Sun revolved around the Earth. The world was "Center-Earth " that there was the theory of geocentrism . Everything revolved around the Earth. At that time about 300 in A.C. Aristarchus of Samos , an ancient greek astronomer introduced the concept of Earth's orbit around the Sun over the years have been theorized and developed many attempts to acquire this skill for humans. Theories and experiments then were not even compare , because the world was large and the flow of information does not spread widely .

In 1543 Copernicus published " De revolutionibus orbium Coelestium " an astronomical treatise on the revolutions of the heavenly bodies . The Polish astronomer explains the new theory of heliocentrism than the concept recognized by the masses of the geocentric view . After another leap time we get to talk about a Jesuit who had imagined the flight by half : Francesco Lana de Terzi described airship lighter than air. Imagined as a vessel , Francis passed the edge of the unknown with the known. He devised a new interpretation of the flight : the flight by half -built .

At the end of 1700 there were two important technical inventions successfully: the invention of the hot air balloon and testing of a submarine. In the second chapter we will understand what connects a submarine with the ship . The first text that describes a trip to the moon is " The true story " in greek " Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα " is a story told by Lucian of Samosata1 with intent pariodistico . This trip was not made ​​by a spaceship or a means of man-made and therefore do not take it into account. But it is interesting to know about a trip on a ship, beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The ship runs into a typhoon that raises the boat for 3000 stadiums in height, and after eight days of flight ends on " a vast land like an island , bright and spherical and lit by a great light " 2. Then the narrative continues with fights, meetings with Selenites ( ancient aliens ) and wars for the conquest of Venus. It is one of the first "Star Wars" in the history of literature . In a climate of change and technological innovation , scientific and cultural Jules Verne wrote " From the Earth to the Moon." It was inspired by science and the industrial revolution. From the Earth to the Moon tells the story of a group of people traveling to the moon by a bullet. Jules Verne mixing science with fantasy , creating a literary genre innovative for its time : laying the foundations of science fiction.