from the earth to the moon by jules verne

The circumlunar spacecraft would be built predominately of aluminum and have a mass of 19,250 pounds (empty mass of the predominately aluminum Apollo 8 circumlunar spacecraft was 26,275 pounds).

The names of the crew were Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl (Anders, Borman and Lovell on Apollo 8 Aldrin, Armstrong, Collins on Apollo 11). The circumlunar spacecraft would have a crew of three.The cost of the program would be $5,446,675 US dollars in 1865 (equivalent to $ 12.112 billion US dollars in 1969 Apollo cost $ 14.405 billion dollars up to the Apollo 8 circumnavigation mission).The United States would launch the first manned vehicle to circumnavigate the moon.Verne's analysis resulted in the following correct predictions: The human passengers would be protected from the tremendous G forces of acceleration and deceleration by hydraulic and frangible shock absorbers. The shell was to be constructed of aluminum, with walls 0.3 m thick. After deceleration going through the earth's atmosphere, the shell would have a residual velocity of 11 km/second, sufficient to reach the moon. This was supposed to propel the 2.74 m diameter shell to a velocity of 16.5 km/second. The first 61 m of the barrel was filled with 122 metric tons of guncotton. The gun was poured into a 274 m deep well, with a bore of 2.74 m. As a result, at the time of Apollo 8 and 11 missions it was noted that Verne had made an astonishing number of correct predictions about the actual missions. Although some errors were made, Verne used real engineering analysis to arrive at the design of his cannon and manned moon projectile. Jules Verne's moon gun, as described in his 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, was located in Florida. But when Barbicane’s adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a “manned” flight, one man’s dream turns into an international space race.Ī story of rip-roaring action, humor, and wild imagination, From the Earth to the Moon is as uncanny in its accuracy and as filled with authentic detail and startling immediacy as Verne’s timeless masterpieces 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days.Home - Search - Browse - Alphabetic Index: 0- 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- 9Ī- B- C- D- E- F- G- H- I- J- K- L- M- N- O- P- Q- R- S- T- U- V- W- X- Y- ZĪpollo Columbia spacecraft compared with Jules Verne's Columbiadįrench gun-launched orbital launch vehicle. When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne’s prophetic novel of man’s race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.

Translated by Lowell Bair, introduction by Gregory Benford.

From the earth to the moon by jules verne