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by Jules Vernes
AUDIO BOOK -
CD-ROM - mp3
From the Earth to the Moon (French: De la
Terre à la Lune, 1865) is a humorous science fantasy novel
by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that
genre. It tells the story of the president of a
post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a
Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an
enormous sky-facing Columbiad space gun and launch
themselves in a projectile/spaceship from it to a Moon
landing.
The story is also notable in that Verne attempted to do some
rough calculations as to the requirements for the cannon
and, considering the total lack of any data on the subject
at the time, some of his figures are surprisingly close to
reality. However, his scenario turned out to be impractical
for safe manned space travel since a much longer muzzle
would have been required to reach escape velocity while
limiting acceleration to survivable limits for the
passengers.
The story bears similarities to the real-life Apollo
program:
* Verne's cannon was called Columbiad; the Apollo 11 command
module (Apollo CSM) was named Columbia.
* The spacecraft crew consisted of three persons in each
case.
* The physical dimensions of the projectile are very close
to the dimensions of the Apollo CSM.
* Verne's voyage blasted off from Florida, as did all Apollo
missions. (Verne correctly states in the book that objects
launch into space most easily if they are launched towards
the zenith of a particular location, and that the zenith
would better line up with the moon's orbit from near the
Earth's equator. In the book Florida and Texas compete for
the launch, with Florida winning.)
* The names of the crew, Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl, are
vaguely similar to Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim
Lovell, the crew of Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to
travel to the moon, although it didn't actually land.
The character of "Michel Ardan" in the novel was inspired by
Nadar.
It's been some time since the end of the American Civil War.
The Gun Club, a society based in Baltimore and dedicated to
the design of weapons of all kinds (especially cannons),
meets when Impey Barbicane, its president, calls them to
support his idea: according to his calculations, a cannon
can shoot a projectile so that it reaches the moon. After
receiving the whole support of his companions, a few of them
meet to decide the place from where the projectile will be
shot, the dimensions and makings of both the cannon and the
projectile, and which kind of powder are they to use.
An old enemy of Barbicane, a Captain Nicholl of
Philadelphia, designer of plate armor, declares that the
enterprise is absurd and makes a series of bets with
Barbicane, each of them of increasing amount over the
impossibility of such feat.
The first obstacle, the money, and over which Nicholl has
bet 1000 dollars, is raised from most countries in America
and Europe, in which the mission reaches variable success
(while the USA gives 4 million dollars, England doesn't give
a farthing, being envious of the United States in matters of
science), but in the end nearly five and a half million
dollars are raised, which ensures the financial feasibility
of the project.
After deciding the place for the launch (Stone's Hill in
"Tampa Town", Florida; predating Kennedy Space Center's
placement in Florida by almost 100 years; Verne gives the
exact position as 27°7' northern latitude and 5°7' western
longitude, of course relative to the meridian of Washington
that is 27°7′0″N 82°9′0″W / 27.116667°N 82.15°W /
27.116667; -82.15[1] ), the Gun Club travels there and
starts the construction of the Columbiad cannon, which
requires the excavation of a nine hundred foot deep and
sixty foot wide circular hole, which is made in the nick of
time, but a surprise awaits Barbicane: Michel Ardan, a
French adventurer, plans to travel aboard the projectile.
During a meeting between Ardan, the Gun Club and the
inhabitants of Florida, Nicholl appears and challenges
Barbicane to a duel, which is successfully stopped when
Ardan, warned by J. T. Maston, secretary of the Gun Club,
meets the rivals in the forest they have agreed to duel in.
Meanwhile, Barbicane finds the solution to the problem of
surviving the incredible acceleration that the explosion
would cause. Ardan suggests Barbicane and Nicholl to travel
with him in the projectile, and the offer is accepted.
In the end, the projectile is successfully launched, but the
destinies of the three astronauts are left inconclusive. The
sequel, Around the Moon, deals with what happens to the
three men in their travel from the Earth to the Moon.
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