<P> Jules Verne's novel is a window to the knowledge of his time and his understanding of the technologies . It has several technical errors, which look unusual to the modern eyes, but reflect the knowledge of 1865 - 1870 . Some of the issues are: </P> <Ul> <Li> The projectile is launched using a large gun . Of course, the largest issue is the resulting acceleration, which is well above the survivable limit for humans . The space capsule also performs a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on the return trip, which also challenges the acceleration limits . Verne did not consider using a rocket as the main propulsion method although some small retro - rockets were carried onboard to be used to soften the landing on the Moon . This is somewhat understandable since black powder rockets were rather small at that time and the possibility of using them for space propulsion was considered and described only some 40 years later by Tsiolkovsky . Liquid propellants were invented even later . These modern propellants offer much higher specific impulse than black powder . Verne has used a gun perhaps because he ignored that rockets could work in vacuum . </Li> <Li> The passengers en route to the Moon are described to be subjected to gravitation all the way to the "neutral point" between the Earth and the Moon . Actual passengers of a free - flight projectile would not feel any gravity anywhere along the journey . </Li> <Li> When the projectile is behind the Moon, the passengers measure the vacuum temperature while in the shadow of the moon . They "settle" the debate between Joseph Fourier and Claude Pouillet when the "actual" temperature is measured at - 140 ° C when a special thermometer is sent out of the capsule and retrieved by slightly opening the hatch . The accepted value today is - 271 ° C . </Li> <Li> Aether is explained to be the medium by which "heat and light is produced;" this was the standard model of the time . This model was later abandoned as the result of the measurement of the speed of light by Michelson and Morley in 1887, which led later to the theory of relativity in 1904 by Albert Einstein . This experiment and others disproved the existence of aether . </Li> </Ul> <Li> The projectile is launched using a large gun . Of course, the largest issue is the resulting acceleration, which is well above the survivable limit for humans . The space capsule also performs a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on the return trip, which also challenges the acceleration limits . Verne did not consider using a rocket as the main propulsion method although some small retro - rockets were carried onboard to be used to soften the landing on the Moon . This is somewhat understandable since black powder rockets were rather small at that time and the possibility of using them for space propulsion was considered and described only some 40 years later by Tsiolkovsky . Liquid propellants were invented even later . These modern propellants offer much higher specific impulse than black powder . Verne has used a gun perhaps because he ignored that rockets could work in vacuum . </Li> <Li> The passengers en route to the Moon are described to be subjected to gravitation all the way to the "neutral point" between the Earth and the Moon . Actual passengers of a free - flight projectile would not feel any gravity anywhere along the journey . </Li>

From the earth to the moon jules verne characters