Early dreams

After early successes in space, much of the public saw intensive space exploration as inevitable.
Those aspirations are remembered in science fiction such as Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of
Moondust and also 2001: A Space Odyssey, Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator,
Joanna Russ's 1968 novel Picnic on Paradise, and Larry Niven's Known Space stories.
Lucian in 2 A.D. in his book True History examines the idea of a crew of men whose ship
travels to the Moon during a storm. Jules Verne also took up the theme of lunar visits in
his books, From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Robert A. Heinlein’s short story
The Menace from Earth, published in 1957, was one of the first to incorporate elements of a
developed space tourism industry within its framework. During the 1960s and 1970s,
it was common belief that space hotels would be launched by 2000. Many futurologists
around the middle of the 20th century speculated that the average family of the early 21st
century would be able to enjoy a holiday on the Moon. In the 1960s, Pan Am established a
waiting list for future flights to the moon, issuing free "First Moon Flights Club"
membership cards to those who requested them.