De la terre à la lune: trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes — Résumé 🇺🇸 English
Two months before the scheduled lunar launch, public excitement around the Gun-Club’s project reaches fever pitch, sustained by constant newspaper coverage. This fragile anticipation is abruptly shattered and then intensified by an extraordinary telegram received by President Barbicane on September 30 via the transatlantic cable. The message, sent from Paris and signed by Michel Ardan, proposes a radical modification: replace the spherical projectile with a cylindrical-conical one, because Ardan himself intends to travel inside it. The blunt statement that he will board the projectile and arrive aboard the steamer Atlanta instantly shocks Barbicane, who momentarily loses his composure upon reading it. Although the idea seems absurd and likely a hoax, the existence of telegraphic transmission prevents secrecy, and the message spreads rapidly across the United States, igniting public debate and disbelief. Within Tampa, where Barbicane is located, reactions range from ridicule to fascination. The notion that a human being would willingly attempt such a journey is widely dismissed as madness, yet curiosity grows as Ardan’s identity becomes associated with a well-known daring European adventurer. Seeking certainty, Barbicane verifies the claim through Liverpool shipping records, which confirm that the steamship Atlanta departed for Tampa with a passenger named Michel Ardan aboard. Confronted with this undeniable evidence, Barbicane is forced to acknowledge the reality of the situation, even as he privately doubts the sanity of the Frenchman and briefly considers halting the projectile’s construction. Meanwhile, the entire United States becomes engulfed in unprecedented excitement, with daily life disrupted as people await the arrival of the Atlantic steamer.
When the Atlanta finally enters Tampa Bay, it is surrounded by a massive flotilla of boats, and Ardan is immediately identified upon boarding. He appears as a vigorous, eccentric, and highly expressive man of forty-two, with a leonine appearance, restless energy, and an irrepressible enthusiasm for bold ideas. Unlike Barbicane’s cold precision and scientific discipline, Ardan embodies impulsive imagination and adventurous optimism. The two men meet in private aboard the ship, where Ardan confirms his determination to undertake the lunar voyage without hesitation, treating it as a natural extension of human progress. He dismisses concerns about danger or feasibility, insisting that travel is simply a matter of advancing technology. He demands a public forum to present his ideas, believing objections should be addressed openly rather than privately.
The following day, an immense public gathering is organized outside Tampa, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators under a vast tent. Ardan delivers a passionate and unconventional speech in English, explaining his belief that space travel is an inevitable continuation of human mobility, from walking to railways and beyond. He argues that the projectile is simply the next evolutionary vehicle and that celestial bodies themselves are like giant cannonballs in motion. He supports his claims with comparisons of planetary velocities and astronomical distances, emphasizing that Earth itself travels at tremendous speed. Ardan further asserts that humanity is not confined to Earth and will eventually traverse space as easily as oceans. Although his theories are exaggerated and unscientific, his charisma captivates the audience, and his vision of interplanetary travel transforms skepticism into enthusiastic fascination.