Destination Moon (comics): Difference between revisions
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While in the Centre, they soon come to realize the purpose to the ZEPO: they are designed specifically to block a foreign power that is also interested in the project. On one particular night, spies are parachuted into areas surrounding the facility and the Centre is place on red alert. The security staff later arrest and interrogate two men dressed in Greek dance costumes, but in fact they are actually the [[Thomson and Thompson|Thompson twins]], whom Tintin instantly recognizes and clears. The pair remain in the Centre. |
While in the Centre, they soon come to realize the purpose to the ZEPO: they are designed specifically to block a foreign power that is also interested in the project. On one particular night, spies are parachuted into areas surrounding the facility and the Centre is place on red alert. The security staff later arrest and interrogate two men dressed in Greek dance costumes, but in fact they are actually the [[Thomson and Thompson|Thompson twins]], whom Tintin instantly recognizes and clears. The pair remain in the Centre. |
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An unmanned subscale prototype of the rocket -- the "X-FLR6" -- is launched on a circumlunar mission to photograph the [[far side of the moon]] as well as test Professor Calculus's revolutionary [[nuclear propulsion]] engine. The rocket successfully orbits the moon but is then intercepted by the foreign power and the research team has no other option than to destroy the rocket. As the compound is heavily secured, there must have been a [[spy]] who leaked information, but no suspects are found. |
An unmanned subscale prototype of the rocket -- the [[V-2 rocket]] like "X-FLR6" -- is launched on a circumlunar mission to photograph the [[far side of the moon]] as well as test Professor Calculus's revolutionary [[nuclear propulsion]] engine. The rocket successfully orbits the moon but is then intercepted by the foreign power and the research team has no other option than to destroy the rocket. As the compound is heavily secured, there must have been a [[spy]] who leaked information, but no suspects are found. |
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Despite this set-back preparations are made and the equipment is tested. |
Despite this set-back preparations are made and the equipment is tested. |
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Revision as of 21:13, 24 January 2008
| Tintin: Destination Moon (Objectif Lune) | |
|---|---|
| File:Tintin cover - Destination Moon.jpg Cover of the English edition | |
| Date | 1953 |
| Series | The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin) |
| Publisher | Casterman |
| Creative team | |
| Writers | Hergé |
| Artists | Hergé |
| Original publication | |
| Published in | Tintin |
| Date of publication | March 30 1950 - September 7 1950 / April 4 1952 - October 22 1952 |
| Language | French |
| ISBN | ISBN 2-203-00115-1 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Translation | |
| Publisher | Methuen |
| Date | 1959 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7497-0467-5 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Translator | Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Land of Black Gold, 1950 |
| Followed by | Explorers on the Moon, 1954 |
Destination Moon (French: Objectif Lune) is the sixteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. Destination Moon is the first part of one of the four multi-book stories in the Tintin series, the other part being Explorers on the Moon (On a marché sur la Lune).
It is one of two latter-day Tintin albums (the other being The Castafiore Emerald) that is not structured as a straightforward adventure story; instead, it is an episodic sequence of events surrounding the development of a moon rocket. There is, however, a subplot involving espionage to hold the episodes together.
Synopsis
Tintin's friend Professor Calculus has been secretly commissioned by the Syldavian government to build a rocket ship which will fly to the moon. Tintin and Captain Haddock agree to join the expedition (even though Captain Haddock didn't want to, as usual). Upon arriving in Syldavia, they are taken to the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre (referred to simply as the Centre in the story), headed by the scientist Mr. Baxter. They are escorted by the "ZEPO", a special security force designed to protect the Centre from outsider threats. While working for Syldavia Calculus is flanked by the engineer Frank Wolff who works in the Centre and accompanies Tintin and Haddock around the facility. Prof. Calculus reveals that the Syldavian government invited nuclear physics scientists from other countries to work for the Centre, which was created four years earlier when large uranium deposits were discovered in the area. The Centre is entirely dedicated to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Calculus heads the Centre's astronautics department since this is his primary area of expertise.
While in the Centre, they soon come to realize the purpose to the ZEPO: they are designed specifically to block a foreign power that is also interested in the project. On one particular night, spies are parachuted into areas surrounding the facility and the Centre is place on red alert. The security staff later arrest and interrogate two men dressed in Greek dance costumes, but in fact they are actually the Thompson twins, whom Tintin instantly recognizes and clears. The pair remain in the Centre.
An unmanned subscale prototype of the rocket -- the V-2 rocket like "X-FLR6" -- is launched on a circumlunar mission to photograph the far side of the moon as well as test Professor Calculus's revolutionary nuclear propulsion engine. The rocket successfully orbits the moon but is then intercepted by the foreign power and the research team has no other option than to destroy the rocket. As the compound is heavily secured, there must have been a spy who leaked information, but no suspects are found.
Despite this set-back preparations are made and the equipment is tested.
During the testing of the space suits, Captain Haddock gets frustrated in the situation and claims that Calculus is "acting the goat", (a line which would end up becoming a famous line in the Tintin series), leading to a well-known comic scene causing Calculus to go into a fit of anger. He leads them out of the complex and to the site of the Moon Rocket, where he falls down a ladder and suffers temporary memory loss.
Preparations are made for an actual moon flight and a full scale manned rocket is built. Finally, during the night of June 2 at 1:34 in the morning, the rocket takes off with Tintin, Haddock, Calculus and Wolff on board.
The story continues in Explorers on the Moon, picking up where Destination Moon left off.
Scientific accuracy
Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon were written well over a decade before the 1969 moon landings and several years before manned space flight. Hergé was keen to ensure that the books were scientifically accurate, based on ideas about space flight then available. Professor Calculus explains that his nuclear rocket engine essentially works like a slowly exploding nuclear fission bomb. The engine is able to withstand the extreme heat and radiation since it is made of "calculite", an silicon based extremely heat resistant material also invented by the professor. However, the deadly nuclear radiation produced by the engine would pollute the launch and landing area, hence the rocket is equipped with an ordinary chemical rocket motor (the X-FLR6 is said to use aniline and nitric acid propellants). The full scale nuclear rocket motor is only used above 800 km altitude in space and produces a constant acceleration of one Earth gravity.
One oddity is that Tintin and Haddock only get to see the rocket when it is in the final stages of completion, despite having been the designated passengers for several months. The project schedule is also highly ambitious as the first manned lunar landing apparently is attempted only four years after the Atomic Research Centre was created. Construction work on the full scale manned rocket only begins after the unmanned subscale test flight, which takes place only a few months before the first manned lunar landing.
Overall, Hergé's attention to detail is as good as ever. E.g. the illustrations show that the June 3 1:34 AM launch takes place while the lunar phase (first quarter moon) is the same as it was in 1952 when the comic strip depicting the launch was made.
Alternative story
Bernard Heuvelmans, advisor to Hergé during the creation of the moon exploration albums, originally wrote a script for Destination Moon that took place in the USA. The plot would include Professor Phostle from The Shooting Star, but this time as the villain. He would steal the plans for Calculus' rocket and sell them in order to buy a diamond for the actress Rita Hayworth. After drawing two pages of this story in which a radio interview with Calculus goes wrong because of his deafness, Hergé dropped this in favour of his own storyline.[1]
References
- ^ Tintin The Complete Companion by Michael Farr, ISBN-10: 0719555221, ISBN-13: 978-0719555220
External links
- Destination Moon at Tintinologist.org
