Sky and Telescope - June 2015 - 32

The Reality of Make-Believe

The

Science of
Jules Verne's
Fiction
Dean
Regas

Nineteenth-century science and technology shaped two classic
tales of imaginary spaceﬂight.
Under a Floridian sky, three astronauts boarded their
ﬁction stories provide an illuminating window into 19thmetallic spacecraft. As throngs of well-wishers nervously
century scientiﬁc knowledge.
looked on, at the awaited moment the crew blasted
The year is 1865, and Verne introduces the Gun
up, up into the warm, clear air - soaring toward the
Club, a ﬁctional organization in Baltimore. The club's
Moon. Flying where no human had gone before, they
members (who possess, according to one account, "not
approached the cratered lunar surface, orbited around
quite one arm between four persons and exactly two legs
the silvery orb, and beheld the farside of the Moon.
between six") are artillery specialists who lament the
Then the spacecraft returned to Earth and plunged into
end of the Civil War. So they must grudgingly turn their
the Paciﬁc Ocean, where an American naval vessel
eﬀorts to peaceful endeavors. President Impey Barbigathered the intrepid astronauts and carried
cane envisions a new course for the club and his
them safely back to the United States to be
country. "It is reserved for the practical genius
welcomed as national heroes.
of Americans to establish a communication
This is the true story of the Apollo 8
with the sidereal world," he says. He proposes
mission, during which three American
to shoot a cannonball at the Moon - and to
astronauts circumnavigated the Moon in
hit it. After rousing applause he states, "I have
December 1968. It also happens to be the plot
the honor, my brave colleagues, to propose a
Apollo 8's
recovery
of Jules Verne's 1865 science-ﬁction classic,
trial of this little experiment."
From the Earth to the Moon, and his 1870 sequel,
With worldwide ﬁnancial, moral, and spiritual
NA SA
Around the Moon. A number of coincidences occur
support, the experiment begins. In order to reach the
between this fantasy journey and the real-life mission
Moon, members of the Gun Club must build a monundertaken a century later.
strous cannon. They intend to ﬁre it when the Moon
Verne's research on the latest astronomical disis closest to Earth and directly overhead - something
coveries, along with his familiarity with cutting-edge
that can only occur between 28° north and 28° south
°
technology, allowed him to construct a realistic journey
latitude. After ﬁerce lobbying (and ample name-calling)
complete with comedy, drama, and education. Like
Verne himself, the novels' adventurers were scientiﬁFacing page: The bullet-shaped projectile arrives at Stone's Hill,
cally minded; they hypothesized, explained, and debated
near Tampa Town in Florida. This and other engravings are repromath, science, engineering, and astronomy throughout
duced from an 1886 printing of Jules Verne's From the Earth to
the Moon and Around the Moon and provided by Jared Woodﬁll.
their journey. Today, 150 years later, Verne's science32

June 2015 sky & telescope

Sky and Telescope - June 2015

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