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Tonight we'll read A Void to the Moon written by Edgar Allen Poe.

It was intended by the author as a hoax when it was originally published in 1835 titled The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hands Fall.

The story is regarded as one of the early examples of the modern science fiction genre.

Jules Verne acknowledged Poe as the creator of the scientific novel.

Let's get cozy.

Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

After a long devotion to the study of physics and astronomy, I, Hans Fall of Rotterdam,

at length determined it to construct a balloon of my own along original lines and try a flight in it.

Accordingly, I had made an enormous bag out of muslin,

varnished for protection against the weather.

I procured all the instruments needed for a prolonged descent and finally prepared for the inflation of the balloon.

Herein lay my secret.

My invention, the thing in which my balloon differed from all the balloons that had gone before,

out of a peculiar metallic substance and a very common acid,

...