Jules Verne's Columbiad Space Gun — From the Earth to the Moon, 1865

Atop a coastal fortification, workers swarm around the enormous barrel of the Columbiad — the colossal cannon designed to hurl a manned projectile to the Moon. Smoke curls from the massive breech as crew members inspect the iron behemoth, cannonballs and equipment scattered at their feet. The vast ocean stretches to the horizon behind them, sailboats tiny in the distance. This is proto-science fiction's most audacious engineering dream made tangible: a gun the size of a building aimed at the stars.