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Originally Posted by JohnD
Going back to Jules Verne's scientific validity:
Remind me - wasn't his moon ship launched by - a gun?
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Yes, it was.
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Originally Posted by JohnD
Had no fuel?
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Actually it had several rockets that they intended to use in the final stage of the moon descent, but in the end they've used them to de-orbit and return to Earth (actually they wanted to de-orbit toward the Moon, but the manoeuver didn't worked as planed).
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Originally Posted by JohnD
Crash landed on the Moon?
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No, it didn't crash on the Moon.
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Originally Posted by JohnD
And found a viable ecology there?
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Actually while above the far side of the Moon they've caught a glimpse of a landscape (moonscape?) and in those few seconds they've seen some features that could have been interpreted as vegetation, but the issue remains unanswered in the book.
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Originally Posted by JohnD
Great science fiction, but not science.
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IMO is more science than fiction; IIRC the first chapters of the book contain a detailed calculation of the escape velocities, fire angle, transit times, propelant parameters, etc, etc...I'd love to see such OOM calculations on the ATM section of this very board.
