From Earth to the Moon and Round the Moon : Jules Verne (1865/1870)
The following is a list of similarities between Verne’s space-travel hypothesis and the real-life Apollo Program from Wikipedia.
- Verne’s cannon was a type called a columbiad; the Apollo 11 command module was named Columbia.
- The spacecraft crew consisted of three persons in each case.
- The physical dimensions of the projectile are very close to the dimensions of the Apollo CSM.
- Verne’s voyage blasted off from Florida, as did all Apollo missions. (Verne correctly states in the book that objects launch into space most easily if they are launched towards the zenith of a particular location, and that the zenith would better line up with the moon’s orbit from near the Earth’s equator. In the book Florida and Texas compete for the launch, with Florida winning.)
- The names of the crew, Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl, are vaguely similar to Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell, the crew of Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to travel to the moon, although it didn’t actually land
