The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall

"The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835) is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is regarded as one of the early examples of the modern science fiction genre. The story traces the journey of a voyage to the Moon. The story opens with the delivery to a crowd gathered in Rotterdam of a manuscript detailing the journey to the moon by Hans Pfaall. The letter is brought by balloon by an inhabitant of the moon. He had been sent by Pfaall to Rotterdam with the letter for Burgomaster Superbus Von Underduk after an absence of five years. The manuscript, which comprises the majority of the story, sets out in detail how Hans Pfaall, a mender of bellows, contrived to reach the Moon by benefit of a revolutionary new balloon and a device which compresses the vacuum of space into breathable air. The journey takes him nineteen days.