Science fiction is an historical literature.
In fact this historicity defines the genre. Not all science fiction stories are set in the future. It is the same process, connecting to a different point in time. Because no sf story describes the actual future that will ensue in the real world, one could even say that all science fiction narratives are alternative histories some branching away from our present, others branching away from some moment of our past. Sometimes the worlds described in fantasies have histories, but they do not connect with our own.