Jules Verne (1828­1905) wrote numerous popular novels, including From  
Earth to the Moon Direct In 97 Hours and 20 Minutes , and A Trip Around  
It . An earlier example is Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac’s (1619­1655) 
work, Voyages to the Moon and the Sun , a comical history of the 
fictional empires on the sun and moon.