From the Earth to the Moon | Jules Verne

Impey Barbicane thought of making the greatest cannon of them all. A powerful cannon not for war, but for peace, made to shoot not the enemy, but the surface of the moon. 'Peace, peace at last! But now no one needs cannon-makers anymore...and I love my job and know how to do it well. If only there were cannons for peace, I could make them better than anyone...'Those were Impey Barbicane's thoughts, as he was staring at the moon...which gave him a brilliant idea: he would make the greatest cannon in the world, a cannon that would expand the human knowledge! Made not to fight the enemy but to launch a shell to the surface of the Moon! Indeed, that would be the cannon of peace!