Long before we had rocket scientists, the idea of spaceflight traveled from mind to mind across generations. With great visuals, TED Fellow and NASA economist Alexander MacDonald shows how 300 years of sci-fi tales -- from Edgar Allan Poe to Jules Verne to H.G. Wells and beyond -- sparked a culture of space exploration. A fascinating look at how stories become reality, featuring a goose machine sent to the Moon.

Alexander MacDonald: How centuries of sci-fi sparked spaceflight

How centuries of sci-fi sparked spaceflight

H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds' spurred Robert Goddard's commitment to rocket development, illustrating fiction's impact on reality.

From Godwin to Verne to the Apollo missions, a 300-year cultural legacy of storytelling has shaped our journey to space.

Dreams of lunar travel fueled by 17th-century fiction inspired real technological advances, sparking the space exploration era.