Jules Verne

All Around the Moon Jules Verne

After being fired out of the giant Columbiad, the bullet-shaped projectile along with its three passengers, Barbicane, Nicholl and Michel Ardan, begins the five-day trip to the moon. After a close collission with meteor the three astronauts discover that the gravitational force of this satellite has sent them into an orbit around the moon. As Barbicane, Ardan and Nicholl begin geographical observations with opera glasses. They gain spectacular views of Tycho, one of the greatest of all craters on the moon. But then the projectile begins to move slowly away from the moon, towards the 'dead point', a place of which the gravitational attraction of the moon and earth becomes equal. Michel Ardan then hits upon the idea of using the rockets fixed to the bottom of the projectile, but the rockets are fired too late and the projectile falls to the earth at a speed of 115,200 miles per hour.