Moon the correct values of about 60 and 0.273 respectively. Archimedes (287–212 BC) designed a planetarium that could calculate the motions of the Moon and other objects in the Solar System. During the Middle Ages, before the invention of the telescope, the Moon was increasingly recognised as a sphere, though many believed that it was "perfectly smooth". In 1609, Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of the Moon in his book and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Telescopic mapping of the Moon followed: later in the 17th century, the efforts of Giovanni
First Men to the Moon First Men to the Moon First Men to the Moon is a novel by rocketry expert Wernher von Braun, published in 1960. It tells the story of John Mason and Larry Carter, fictional astronauts traveling to the moon. Von Braun's book is dedicated to his daughters Iris and Margrit, who he believed would live in a world in which flights to the moon were commonplace. Along with detailed illustrations by Fred Freeman, von Braun's story is based on his own scientific knowledge and includes technical explanations of a journey into space. The novel describes the use of a method of