A Trip to the Moon

With next month marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this seems like an appropriate time to critically examine the fascination generations of writers and filmmakers have had with the moon. What is it about space travel that was so interesting to Jules Verne when he wrote FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON? George Melies was certainly inspired by Verne when he made his pioneering short film A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902). Melies actually allows his characters to land on the moon, not just circle around it as in the Verne original. It was Fritz Lang who first showed audiences the possibilities of rocket travel in his 1929 German silent film WOMAN IN THE MOON. What is the relationship between these works of science fiction and the scientific facts? And what insight have writers and filmmakers provided about humanity's relationship with the rest of the universe?