(1865) Sci-fi (Space voyage) / Adventure (Perils in space)


R: * * * * *


Plot bullets

The first part is about the concept and preparation for the trip to the moon.

o The president of 'The Gun Club' of Baltimore, Impey Barbicane convinces his members that they can build a large cannon and launch a projectile to the moon.

o Barbicane's philosophical and commercial enemy Captain Nicholl tries to
defeat the idea and the launch. While Barbicane and his club have been
building bigger and more destructive guns and artillery, he has been
trying to offset those advances with better armament.

o Financing is obtain from a world wide solicitation. Florida is chosen as
the site for the cannon, a vast amount of explosive Gun-cotton is chosen as the initial and only propellant, observatory calculations are made and the site and
cannon prepared.

o A Frenchman, Michel Ardan, adds a last minute deviation to the specifications.
He wants the projectile to be manned, by himself.

o After many heated discussions and negotiations, all three men decide to
go on a trip to the moon.

The second part 'Round the Moon' is about the trip to the moon.

o The three men begin their journey.
[o} They have an early close encounter with a comet. That, as well as some
miscalculation on escape velocity, disallow a landing on the moon.

o The projectile is being observed by a large telescope created for that
purpose. To the observers, all is lost.

o The three men accept their fate and delve into scientific documentation
of the sites they see.
;o] There appears to be only a very slight possibility that these men
will ever return.

The three passengers of the moon projectile will not land on the moon, but are the first to travel 'From The Earth To The Moon and Round the Moon'.

As with most of Verns works, there are several
translations and packaging of the two stories as with 'The Moon Voyage' in 1873
and 'All Around the Moon' (the second part only) in 1873.