''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' (french: De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes) is an 1865 novel by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an enormous

Columbiad The columbiad was a large-caliber, smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid shot or shell to long ranges, making it an excellent seacoas ...

space gun Space Gun may refer to: * Space gun, a method of launching an object into space * ''Space Gun'' (album), a 2018 album by Guided by Voices * ''Space Gun'' (video game), a 1990 arcade game * Ljutic Space Gun, a 12 gauge single-shot shotgun See also * ...

and launch three people—the Gun Club's president, his Philadelphian armor-making rival, and a French poet—in a projectile with the goal of a

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

. Five years later, Verne wrote a sequel called ''

Around the Moon ''Around the Moon'' (french: Autour de la Lune, 1869), also translated as ''Circling the Moon'' and ''All Around the Moon'', is the sequel to Jules Verne's 1865 novel, ''From the Earth to the Moon''. It is a science fiction tale which continues th ...

''. The story is also notable in that Verne attempted to do some rough calculations as to the requirements for the cannon and in that, considering the comparative lack of empirical data on the subject at the time, some of his figures are remarkably accurate. However, his version of a

for a

non-rocket spacelaunch Non-rocket spacelaunch refers to theoretical concepts for launch into space where much of the speed and altitude needed to achieve orbit is provided by a propulsion technique that is not subject to the limits of the rocket equation. Although al ...

turned out to be impractical for safe human space travel since a much longer

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

would have been required to reach

escape velocity In celestial mechanics, escape velocity or escape speed is the minimum speed needed for a free, non- propelled object to escape from the gravitational influence of a primary body, thus reaching an infinite distance from it. It is typically ...

while limiting

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the ...

to survivable limits for the passengers. The character of Michel Ardan, the French member of the party in the novel, was inspired by the real-life photographer

Félix Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person t ...

Plot

The story opens some time after the end of the

. The

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Gun Club, a society dedicated to the design of weapons of all kinds (especially cannons), comes together when Impey Barbicane, its president, calls them to support his latest idea. He's done some calculations, and believes that they could construct a cannon capable of shooting a projectile to the Moon. After receiving the support of his companions, another meeting is held to decide the place from which the projectile will be fired, the dimensions and materials of both the cannon and the projectile, and which kind of powder they are to use. An old enemy of Barbicane, a Captain Nicholl of Philadelphia, designer of

plate armor Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, ...

, declares that the entire enterprise is absurd and makes a series of bets with Barbicane, each of them of increasing amount, over the impossibility of such a feat. The first obstacle, enough money to construct the giant cannon (and against which Nicholl has bet $1,000), is raised from a number of countries in America and Europe. Notably, the U.S. donates four million

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

, whilst England, at first, does not give anything. In the end, nearly five and a half million dollars are raised, which ensures the financial feasibility of the project. Stone's Hill in "Tampa Town",

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

is chosen as the site for the cannon's construction. The Gun Club travels there and begins construction of the Columbiad cannon, which requires the excavation of a and circular hole, which is completed in the nick of time, but a surprise awaits Barbicane: Michel Ardan, a French adventurer, plans to travel to the moon aboard the projectile. During a meeting between Ardan, the Gun Club, and the inhabitants of Florida, Nicholl appears and challenges Barbicane to a duel. The duel is stopped when Ardan—having been warned by J. T. Maston, secretary of the Gun Club—meets the rivals in the forest where they have agreed to duel. Meanwhile, Barbicane finds the solution to the problem of surviving the incredible acceleration that the explosion would cause. Ardan suggests that Barbicane and Nicholl travel with him in the projectile, and his proposition is accepted. In the end, the projectile is successfully launched, but the destinies of the three astronauts are left inconclusive. The sequel, ''

'', deals with what happens to the three men during their voyage from the Earth to the Moon.

Influence on popular culture

The novel influenced the opera ''

Le voyage dans la lune ''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure film, adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel ''From the Earth to the Moon' ...

'' in 1875, with music by

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ' ...

. In 1880 ''

The Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed in ...

'' described Verne’s ''Columbiad'' as a ‘space-ship’ - the first recorded use of this term in history. In

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The First Men in the Moon ''The First Men in the Moon'' is a scientific romance by the English author H. G. Wells, originally serialised in '' The Strand Magazine'' from December 1900 to August 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901, who called it one of his "fantast ...

'' (also relating to the first voyagers to the Moon) the protagonist, Mr. Bedford, mentions Verne's novel to his companion, Professor Cavor, who replies (in a possible dig at Verne) that he does not know what Bedford is referring to. Verne returned the dig later when he pointed out that he used

gun cotton Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

to send his men to the Moon, an actual substance. "Can Mr. Wells show me some 'cavourite'?", he asked archly. The novel (along with Wells' ''The First Men in the Moon'') inspired the first science fiction film, '' A Trip to the Moon'', made in 1902 by Georges Méliès. In 1958, another film adaptation of this story was released, titled ''

From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' (french: De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes) is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil W ...

''. It was one of the last films made under the

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

banner. The story also became the basis for the very loose adaptation ''

Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon ''Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon'' is a 1967 Eastman color British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and starring Burl Ives, Troy Donahue, Gert Fröbe and Terry-Thomas. It was released in the US as ''Those Fantastic Flying Foo ...

'' (1967), a caper-style British comedy starring

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

and

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of th ...

. The 1961 Czechoslovak film ''

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen ''The Fabulous Baron Munchausen'' ( cz, Baron Prášil) is a 1962 Czechoslovak romantic adventure film directed by Karel Zeman, based on the tales about Baron Munchausen. The film combines live-action with various forms of animation and is high ...

'' combines characters and plot elements from the Verne novel with those of the stories of

Baron Munchausen Baron Munchausen (; ) is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book '' Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia''. The character is loosely based on a real ...

and

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

. In 1889 Verne wrote a second sequel to the novel, ''

The Purchase of the North Pole ''The Purchase of the North Pole'' or ''Topsy-Turvy'' (french: Sans dessus dessous) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1889. It is the third and last novel of the Baltimore Gun Club, first appearing in ''From the Earth to the Moo ...

'', which has the Gun Club members (led by J. T. Maston) plan to use the Columbiad to alter the tilt of the Earth to enable the mineral wealth of the Arctic region to be put within reach of exploitation. In March 1953, the Gilberton Company published a comic-book adaptation of ''From the Earth to the Moon'' as issue No. 105 in its ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', '' Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

'' series. An unidentified scriptwriter combined Verne's ''From the Earth to the Moon'' with the sequel, ''Around the Moon''. Gilberton art director Alex A. Blum supplied both the cover painting and the 44 pages of interior art. The title went through twelve printings between 1953 and 1971. During their return journey from the Moon, the crew of

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

made reference to Jules Verne's book during a TV broadcast on 23 July. The mission's commander, astronaut

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

, said, "A hundred years ago, Jules Verne wrote a book about a voyage to the Moon. His spaceship, Columbia , took off from Florida and landed in the Pacific Ocean after completing a trip to the Moon. It seems appropriate to us to share with you some of the reflections of the crew as the modern-day Columbia completes its rendezvous with the planet Earth and the same Pacific Ocean tomorrow." In '' Back to the Future Part III'',

Clara Clayton The ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy and subsequent animated series feature characters created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The lead character of the series is Marty McFly. During the course of the trilogy, he travels through time usi ...

in 1885 asks

Emmett Brown Emmett Lathrop Brown, Ph.D., commonly referred to as Doc Brown, is a fictional scientist character in the ''Back to the Future'' franchise. In the world of the franchise, he is the inventor of the world's first and second time machines, the f ...

if he believes mankind will ever "travel to the Moon the way we travel across the country on trains". Being from the future, Brown already knows that doesn't happen for another 84 years, but he affirms they will while inadvertently quoting a passage of ''From the Earth to the Moon''. Clara calls him out on this, and it's from this encounter that the pair discovers their mutual love of

novels. 100 years after the sequel, 1989's A Grand Day Out chronicles a trip to the moon by

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series ce ...

, an inventor and his dog, which was a homage to the Jules Verne story. The novel and its sequel were the inspiration for the 2005 point-and-click adventure computer game '' Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne''. In the 2010 '' The Quantum Thief'' trilogy, the protagonist enters an uneasy alliance with the "Gun Club zoku", who specialize in military weaponry, and in ''The Causal Angel'' (2014) after escaping Earth using a nuclear powered space gun, sells the "Verne gun bullet" to them as a unique collectible item; author Hannu Rajaniemi is a fan of Verne. The Japanese anime adaption of the '' Space Brothers'' (2012-2014) opening for episodes 39-51 ("Small World" by

Fujifabric is a Japanese rock band formed in 2000. While their music can be mostly categorized as alternative rock or power pop, their music usually consists of an eclectic mix of genres, including jazz, disco and progressive rock. Name origin Before the ...

) was a parody of the story, even ending with the cover of an early English translation. The Japanese

otome An , is a story-based video game that is targeted towards women. Generally one of the goals, besides the main idea/goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player/main character and one of the second-lead male characters. His ...

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

, '' Code: Realize- Guardian of Rebirth'' (2014), features a datable engineer named Impey Barbicane. Impey's goal is to build the technology to reach the moon, reflecting the story of the novel. In season two of ''

The Umbrella Academy (TV series) ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American superhero television series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. Created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and ...

'', the character Ray gives Allison a copy of the book as an anniversary gift. Later she leaves a note for him in the same copy of the book. "R29 Binge Club: Umbrella Academy Season 2 Recap"
/ref>

Disneyland Paris

The first incarnation of the roller coaster Space Mountain in

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

, named ''Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune'', was based loosely on this novel. The attraction opened in 1995. The attraction's exterior was designed using a Verne era

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

influence. Elements of the ambiance include rivet and boiler plate effect and the "Columbiad", which recoils with a bang and produces smoke as the train passes, giving riders the perception of being shot into space. During 2005, the ride was refurbished and renamed '' Space Mountain: Mission 2'' as part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth. After this, the ride no longer featured elements of the original storyline from the novel, as it was opened again in 2017 with Star Wars theme. In 1995 the BBC made a documentary about the creation of Space Mountain, called ''Shoot For The Moon''. The 44-minute program followed Tim Delaney and his team in bringing the book ''From the Earth to the Moon'' by

to life. The program shows the development of the attraction, from conception to construction to testing the final attraction. The documentary, originally broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in the United Kingdom, was also aired on other channels in many countries.

Project Epicus version

In 2013, a new film version of the story was announced, under the banner of Project Epicus—a film project—with the full blessing of

's great-grandson Jean Verne that began production in 2017.

References

External links

* * —This is the original translation of Mercier and King published by Sampson Low et al. in 1873 and deletes about 20% of the original French text, along with numerous other errors. * —Gut. text #83 in HTML format with original illustrations. * —This the version of both parts of ''Earth to the Moon'' and ''Round the Moon'' as published by Ward Lock in London in 1877. The translation is more complete than the Mercier version, but still has flaws, referring to the space capsule as a "bullet". * , an analysis and comparison to Apollo. * . * . * . * {{DEFAULTSORT:From The Earth To The Moon 1865 French novels 1865 science fiction novels Fictional rivalries French novels adapted into films French science fiction novels French novels adapted into television shows Novels by Jules Verne Novels set in Florida Novels set on the Moon Space exploration novels Science fiction novels adapted into films