"The Rocket"
A junkyard owner dreams of taking his family to space in this 1951 tale. "Many nights Fiorello Bodoni would awaken to hear the rockets sighing in the dark sky," Bradbury wrote. "He would tiptoe from bed, certain that his kind wife was dreaming, to let himself out into the night air. For a few moments he would be free of the smells of old food in the small house by the river. For a silent moment he would let his heart soar alone into space, following the rockets."
Bodoni's craft never takes flight, and he transports his family by imagination alone. Had the story been written a half-century later, however, Bodoni's dream would have been realistic: Witness the efforts of Copenhagen Suborbitals, a group of hobbyists and engineers building their own backyard rocket ship.
Image: Copenhagen Suborbital's Tycho Deep Space capsule. (Jev Olsen)