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Article: Science Fiction
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- Space Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Science Fiction
Astronautics is unique among the sciences in that it has its roots in an art form. For nearly 400 years space travel existed only in the minds of those faithful writers who kept the torch burning until engineers and scientists developed the technological ability to realize their dreams.
Early Space Fiction
No fiction written about space travel was written until it was known that there were other worlds to go to. This did not happen until 1610, when Galileo Galilei turned a telescope toward the heavens and discovered that what hundreds of generations had assumed were five wandering stars were in fact worlds. This discovery was immediately followed by a spate of ...