"The Brick Moon, and Other Stories" by Edward Everett Hale is a collection published in 1899. The title novella, originally serialized in 1869, tells the story of a massive brick sphere designed as a navigational aid that accidentally launches into orbit with people aboard. This pioneering work of speculative fiction contains the first known fictional descriptions of both an artificial satellite and a space station, remarkably anticipating modern concepts of orbital navigation systems. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
These books are free to read. Each is in the public domain in the United States; check your own country's rules before you copy or share one.
