From the Earth to the Moon

By Jules Verne

Categories: Literature & Fiction

In Jules Verne's novel, members of a Baltimore gun club decide to build a giant cannon to fire a projectile to the Moon. The club's president, Impey Barbicane, plans the venture with careful calculations, while his rival Captain Nicholl doubts it can succeed. A daring Frenchman, Michel Ardan, volunteers to ride inside. Published in 1865, the novel anticipated aspects of later space flight, including a launch from Florida.

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• Neil deGrasse Tyson: “In Jules Verne's 1865 novel "From Earth to the Moon", the subtitle is "in 97 hours and 20 minutes". Close enough.”