Exploration of the Moon invention of the telescope, an increasing number of people began to recognise the Moon 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. Later in the 17th century, Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi drew a map of the Moon and gave many craters the names they still have today. On maps, the dark parts of the Moon's surface were called "maria" (singular "mare") or seas, and the
Of a Fire on the Moon its largest, not its smallest, dimension". His account was published as a book called "Of a Fire on the Moon" in 1970. In the UK, it was published with its original article title, "A Fire on the Moon". "Of a Fire on the Moon", published in three installments by "Life" magazine, later becoming a full book, chronicles the U.S. moon launch of 1969 through the eyes of Norman Mailer’s third-person view of himself. Through this third-person view, Mailer describes the space launches from his point of view as seasoned reporter who has seen America ‘come of age’ since the end