Jules Verne sends three men around the Moon
Jules Verne's 1865 novel launched three men from a giant cannon. The sequel's loop around the Moon and return to the sea echoes this spring's Artemis II flight.
In 1865, Jules Verne published From the Earth to the Moon, a novel about a club of Americans who plan to launch three men toward the Moon from a giant cannon. The story follows the problem of surviving the violent acceleration of the launch.
The sequel, Round the Moon, follows the travelers in flight. They orbit the Moon and perform geographical observations, but their projectile fails to land and sends them back toward Earth, where they are rescued at sea.
That outline sounds familiar. In April four Artemis II astronauts flew around the Moon without landing and splashed down in the Pacific after a trip of nearly ten days. The shape of Verne’s journey, a loop around the Moon and a return to the water, matches the trip NASA’s crew made this spring, even though his cannon launch belongs to fiction.
The book is in the public domain in the United States and free to read at Project Gutenberg.
Sources
- From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon, Project Gutenberg
- Round the Moon, Standard Ebooks
- Artemis II Mission Milestones: An Image and Video Recap, NASA