From the Earth to the Moon

Vernes 1865 tale of a trip to the moon is (as youd expect from Verne) great fun even if bits of it now seem in retrospect a little strange. Our rocket ship gets shot out of a cannon? To the moon? Goodness! But in other ways its full of eerie bits of business that turned out to be very near reality: he had the cost when you adjust for inflation almost exactly right. There are other similarities too. Vernes cannon was named the Columbiad; the Apollo 11 command module was named Columbia. Apollo 11 had a three-person crew just as Vernes did; and both blasted off from the American state of Florida. Even the return to earth happened in more-or-less the same place. Coincidence -- or fact!? We say youll have to read this story yourself to judge.