{"id":4077,"date":"2019-07-19T21:16:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T21:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2019-07-19T21:16:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T21:16:28","slug":"from-the-first-men-in-the-moon-to-the-first-man-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/2019\/07\/19\/from-the-first-men-in-the-moon-to-the-first-man-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"From “The First Men in the Moon” to the first man on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major lunar landmark in its own right, The First Men in the Moon<\/em> by H.G. Wells was first published in 1901. This fictional lunar voyage tells the story of Bedford, an Englishman who moved to the countryside for some peace and quiet while he writes a play, in an attempt to make it rich. He is interrupted by his loud neighbor, Mr. Cavor, who is developing \u201ccavorite,\u201d a new\u00a0material that\u00a0negates the force of gravity. While Bedford wants to exploit the money-making potential of cavorite, Mr. Cavor uses the material to build\u00a0a spaceship, and persuades Bedford to embark on a journey to the Moon. At first, they land on what appears to be a desolate landscape, but after the Sun rises, the landscape is transformed. The Moon\u2019s surface is filled with jungles and creatures, referred to as Selenites. The novel continues on to follow its two protagonists through their journey on the Moon and their desire to return back to Earth.<\/p>\n

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Shelf mark: Wells 823 W46f 1901a<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly six decades after the publication of Wells\u2019s novel, a real lunar voyage finally took place. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Aboard the spacecraft were three crew members: Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin \u201cBuzz\u201d E. Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins. After three days of travel, the astronauts entered into lunar orbit on July 19. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin detached from the command module in a lunar landing module, Eagle, which was used to make their final descent to the Moon\u2019s surface. Shortly after they detached, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on a part of the Moon known as the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong stepped off Eagle onto the Moon\u2019s surface, becoming the first man on the Moon. Armstrong found the Moon to be covered in a fine, powdery dust, very much different from the Moon Bedford and Mr. Cavor landed on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pictured below are two of fifty-two pages of the transcription of the communication between Mission Control and the Apollo 11 crew held at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The first page details the moment leading up to Armstrong\u2019s first step off the ladder. The second page begins with Armstrong\u2019s announcement of his stepping off Eagle, followed by his famous line: \u201cThat\u2019s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shelf mark: Q. 629.454 Ap432 v.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Shelf mark: Q. 629.454 Ap432 v.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2013, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibited The First Men in the Moon<\/em> and other lunar-related books in Life on the Moon: Scientific and Literary Reflections<\/em>. The exhibit catalog is available online: https:\/\/www.ideals.illinois.edu\/handle\/2142\/46462<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major lunar landmark in its own right, The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells was first published in 1901. This fictional lunar voyage tells the story of Bedford, an Englishman who moved to the countryside for some peace and quiet while he writes a play, in an attempt to make it rich. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":4072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[412,339],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apollo-11","category-h-g-wells"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4078,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions\/4078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}