# How centuries of sci-fi sparked spaceflight

- Institution: TED
- Department: TEDxAuckland
- Speaker: Alexander MacDonald
- Year: 2017
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Astronomy and space, History
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_macdonald_how_centuries_of_sci_fi_sparked_spaceflight)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

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.

## Lectures

1. [How centuries of sci-fi sparked spaceflight](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/alexander_macdonald_how_centuries_of_sci_fi_sparked_spaceflight/3ffb3cf46491), 14 min (TED's player)