One of the earliest films ever made, A Trip to the Moon (1902), centered around space travel. Directed by George Méliès, it can be loosely considered the first science fiction movie adaptation. The short film drew inspiration from several works, with much of it influenced by Jules Verne’s 1865 and 1870 books, From Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, respectively.
The film itself follows a group of scientists and astronomers who travel from Earth to the moon, propelled through space by a cannon attached to a capsule. After exploring the surface of the moon, they discover the inhabitants of the moon. While humankind didn’t land on the moon until 1969, science fiction pioneers like Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and many others had already been imagining Outer Space travel in their books for years.
Asimov created the galactic empire as it is known and thought of today, no question about it. His foundation series is the most influential series of its kind, though highly controversial. Robert Heinlein's 1959 book, Starship Troopers, set trends for the depiction of futuristic military forces and much of the science fiction that followed.
Arthur C. Clarke's many works also helped popularize the idea of space travel in the 1950s and throughout the next several decades.
In 1950, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a short book called Interplanetary Flight. This book outlined the basic concept of space travel to people who were not necessarily familiar with the idea. All these were based on their current understanding of astronautics at that time.
Arthur C. Clarke, in particular, made several predictions about space travel. For example, Clarke predicted the eventual existence of telecommunications satellites. The writers of the last couple of hundred years, especially the 40s, 50s, and 60s are the pioneers when it comes to the history of Science Fiction and Space Exploration.
Francois Marie Arue known mainly by his pen name Voltaire, wrote Micromégas in 1752. His version of space travel suggests that people of other worlds have more advanced technology than what is found on Earth. The novel describes a method of space travel that makes use of the forces of repulsion and attraction, which is an apparent reference to the work of renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton. It cannot be overstated the influence that publications such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales had on the sci-fi genre and space exploration in general; these magazines often featured the work of science fiction authors who are now considered greats.
Skylark of Space by Edward E. Smith, published in 1946, was one of the earliest depictions of interstellar travel. It worked by combining a newly discovered fictional element called element x with pure copper, along with a field generated by a particle accelerator. Now, if I were to list every mention of space exploration in every story since, this article would go on forever. What’s important to take away, though, is that humans have always dreamed of traveling through the stars.
Final Thoughts
Since the beginning, humans have had the unique ability to look at the world as it is—and reshape it to suit our needs. We've always used the resources around us to build technologies that improve our lives. We are a species filled with innovators and inventors helping us conquer our globe.
One day, if we're fortunate, we might do the same beyond Earth—learning not to dominate new environments like Mars, but to live in balance with them. With just a small leap of imagination, sci-fi helps us take what we’ve built here and envision what’s possible out there among the stars.
