Saturday Morning, August 12, 2023

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one Night, Sailed off in a Wooden Shoe

The writer leaned back, tilting his chair, his fountain pen tapping against his cheek. He gently rocked back and forth, a cadence in step with his word choice. Research was the bedrock of his career. A blend of science, literature, and intrigue. He had taken his readers across the seven seas and through many continents, even to the center of the earth. But this time...this time...the tapping increased in speed. Why don't I take them to the moon? He leaned forward and bent over his paper. The moon above would complete its nighttime cycle, horizon to horizon, before his hand stopped moving.

1960. Achievement of the impossible.
Mercury, Gemini, & Apollo space programs landing Americans on the moon and returning them home safely.
It was a decade pivotal for the future of the United States, accelerating the sciences and mathematics,
gifting us rich and enjoyable lives we still enjoy today.

Meet Jules Gabriel Verne, nineteenth century French novelist extraordinaire. His works claim immortality. Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and From the Earth to the Moon, the latter published in 1865. His success earned him a modest fortune, opportunities to travel, and admittance into worldwide literary circles. We marvel at his output, his aptness for targeting his audience, and for his prescient to project nineteenth century science into the future. His success is uncanny, intelligence sprinkled with a can-can esprit.

This week, we have a wide display of ephemera reaching back to the early 1960's, the dream period for what we would achieve in space.
Illustrated is a 1961 foldout poster produced by GE [General Electric], 26" x 38".

Marvelous Night for a Moon Dance

The image of space travel depicted over the centuries has varied. Travel by hot air balloon, sailing ships, even a hoist system dragging people between earth and moon were conjured. Bizarre as these devices seem, they were simple interpretations, based on imagination, not scientific study. Jules Verne changed this depiction. He was a student of science, particularly physics, objects in motion. A Newtonian nerd.

NASA information sheets.
In Mercury we crawled, Gemini we walked,
and in Apollo we soared.

From the Earth to the Moon, his fictional novel, is hauntingly similar to our 1960's Apollo voyages. Jules constructed his spacecraft from aluminum, chosen for its lightweight and durability. NASA's Apollo 8 and 11, both moon-bound vehicles, were also constructed of aluminum, weighing within three tons of Verne's model. Apollo's moon module was named Columbia. Verne's named his launch cannon Columbiad. In the words of Sonny and Cher...and the beat goes on...

Fly Me to the Moon

Verne's astronauts, Ardan, Barbicane,and Nicholl, were selected to fly the circumlunar mission. Three men for balance and weight distribution. Apollo 8 carried Anders, Borman, and Lovell; Apollo 11 held Aldrin, Collins, and Armstrong. Shall we continue? All capsules had a strikingly similar design, a bullet shape chosen for stability and speed. Jules Verne designed a launching system with an oversized cannon containing gunpowder, producing an explosion strong enough to project his astronauts to the moon and back. Today, we know this would have been impossible, as the size of the explosion would produce g-forces crushing his astronauts to death. It has been surmised Jules Verne knew of rocket technology but decided to use the cannon image, one the public would readily recognize.

A Moon map. Published as a Book Club Gift, printed in Sweden. Features all the marks made on the moon by man. The summation, July 20, 1969. The day man walked on the moon. 22' x 33"

Location. Location. Location

A launch site is a peculiar animal. Not too north, not too south, just the right latitude. Verne studied the physics of liftoff and decided the best spot would be in the United States either in Texas or Florida, just below the 28th degree latitude. Scrutinizing both regions, he chose a place called Tampa Town, Florida. Modern day Tampa sits on the west coast of Florida directly opposite Cape Canaveral on the east coast. From here the Apollo modules were launched.

Book Enterprises poster, ca. 1960.
As Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing in 1927 ignited a generation of aviators, so too did the American astronauts for space exploration, 35" x 48".
Auction includes autographs by astronauts.

Verne chose the exact location and month for his launch. December at 27 degrees 7 minutes North latitude, 82 degrees 9 minutes West longitude. Apollo 8, our first moon excursion, lifted off on December 21st, the winter solstice, at 28 degrees 27 minutes North; 80 degrees 36 minutes West. Only 132 miles separated each other's launch site. Verne wrote the US Navy Susquehanna retrieved his astronauts. Apollo 11 voyagers were picked up by the US Navy vessel Hornet. A proposed launch site studied by Verne, but not chosen was Brownsville, Texas. Today this is the home of Elon Musk's Space X project.

Ask Not What Your Country can do for You...

Now here is a novel thought, lost in the Land of Entitlement. Words spoken by President John F. Kennedy at his inauguration in January, 1960. His challenge was for America to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Apollo attained that goal on July 20,1969.

Aviation is in the family blood. From the same consignor, we have Standard Oil's 1932 airway map illustrating the route from New York to Washington, D.C. This was a giveaway for passengers charting their flight, flying VFR.

A seemingly impossible task, rocket science was not yet reliable enough to lift a man safely off the earth's surface. But this was a far different America. Nothing was too great to overcome. Everyone was involved. Estes Model rocket sales reached apogee. It was the dream of the young to join the movement. One man soared above. German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. One of his favorite books as a boy was, you guessed it, Jules Verne's From Earth to the Moon. It was a book he devoured, incorporating the writer's work into his formulae. A moon dance like no other.

Wynken, Blyken, and Nod one night, sailed off in a wooden shoe,
Sailed on a river of crystal, into a sea of dew.
Where are you going, and what do you wish?
The old moon asked the three.
We have come to fish for the herring-fish
That live in the beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we,
Said Wynken, Blyken, and Nod.

Eugene Field (1850-1895), published March 9, 1889.

And so shall we this Saturday morning.