From the Earth to the Moon (ePub)

"From the Earth to the Moon" is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1865. The novel is the story of an inventor named Barbicane, and some other obsessive American Civil War veterans, members of the Baltimore Gun Club, who conceive the idea of creating an enormous cannon in order to shoot a "space-bullet" to the Moon from a site in Florida.
Many difficulties arrest the creation of the canon, as it's gargantuan size requires an astronomical amount of money and time to build. Eventually, however, the canon is completed. Shortly before it's completion, a French adventurer named Ardan arrives to say that he wishes to travel inside of the bullet to the moon. A hollow capsule is made in which the Frenchman can travel and Barbicane and his long time rival, Captain Nicholl decide to go with him on the journey in order to settle their rivalry.
Unfortunately, the Barbicane's astronomic calculations are slightly off and the capsule ends up orbiting the moon instead of landing on it. In the end, the three would-be astronauts are left orbiting the moon with no sign if they will ever manage to land.

"From the Earth to the Moon" is one of Verne's most well known works and is notable specifically for it's early calculations for the requirements to the canon and their surprising realism, despite limited research on the moon at the time.
This novel is the first part of Jules Verne's Classic science fiction duology describing man's space voyage that was followed by masterpiece "All Around the Moon".