Space launches before the space age. The contribution of early science fiction to astronautics

An interesting book on how the technical ideas of distant centuries have found real application in the cosmonautics of our days. The reader is surprised to find out that the space elevator, immersion in the animation of a long flight, artificial food, spacesuit, cellular communications, orbital station (even from brick), docking of spacecraft in orbit, photon engine, space sail, etc. They were invented long - over hundreds of years - before the launch of the first satellite. Then the dangers were described that threaten a person when flying into space: overload, lack of air, cosmic cold, etc. Modern cosmonautics checked many ideas of the past in practice (refusing, however, immediately from the construction of a brick orbital station), and something, for example, flew out of a cannon, rejected, and something, for example, an air start, adopted. How all this happened, and is told in this book.
Valentin Vlasov-candidate of technical sciences, author of several popular science books