So...I take it you're not very familiar with Jules Verne's works, or at least not anything beyond 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Center of the Earth.
His novel, From the Earth to the Moon, was written in 1865 (note: this is over 100 years before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon), & talks about a post-US Civil War group of artillery engineers & manufacturers that had formed a club to perform experiments with bigger & more powerful guns, but were looking for a challenge worthy of their intellect...& their president decided they should try to build a gun powerful enough to fire a manned projectile capable of reaching the Moon...