Thread by @jeffs_comics

Let's look at Tin Tin on the Moon in celebration of #Apollo50 #Apollo11 actually achieving this.

Originally serialized in the early 1950s, Herge did extensive research into what space flight might be like.

Join young reporter Tin Tin, and Captain Haddock in

Destination Moon

First off, Captain Haddock receives a telegram from Professor Calculus.

A 'telegram' was kind of like an Instant Message back then, but not so instant.

Any SpongeBob SquarePants fans out there

I love these jokes "We're Leaving at Once"
Two Days later...

It reminds me of "Gilligan Cuts" where someone says "I won't, I won't, I won't" and then it cuts to them doing exactly that.

Off to Syldavia!

Our intrepid pair (well, trio really as Snowy is there) get taken for a ride to some super secret location, and meet up with Professor Calculus

As an American, that Cyrillic alphabet is giving me the shivering timbers

Drink up, Captain Haddock

Remember this was serialized in 1950

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you

Nuclear Power

We are introduced to the Rocket

Unlike the eventual Saturn V rockets that will be used, Herge envisioned a nuclear powered one (with auxiliary jets to safeguard launching and landing areas)

The plot thickens:

Parachutists drop in and can't be found
Is there an accomplice inside?
Tin Tin is on the case

Now we get a look at Mission Control, as the rocket we saw is set to orbit the moon and examine the far side! Tin Tin mentions 'a gadget'...hmmmm

Now we wait for Zero Hour

Ten seconds
Nine
Eight
Seven
Six
Five
Four
Three
Two
One

ZERO

The quest for the moon though is not without politics!

"The Other Side" takes over radio control to steal the rocket!

But 'the gadget' Tin Tin referred to is a self destruct mechanism.

As Bond would say
That's Detente
You don't have it, and I don't have it

Plans continue, despite concerns about a traitor on site, to launch the actual manned mission to the moon.

Ladies and Gentlemen
The Secret Plans

(Shhhhh...don't show anyone)

Does Captain Haddock have right stuff?

Okay, its Tin Tin and not #Apollo11 but this still gives me goosebumps.

Reaching for the moon.

That's dreaming

The door is shut

The light is green

The die is cast

Great Sunspots!

What if I made a mistake in my calculations?

Tin Tin by Herge

Destination Moon

"Moon rocket, are you receiving us?"

What will happen to brave #Tintin and his friends?

Will they reach the moon?

Will they ever return to the Earth?

The gravity of the situation is killing me!

Herge took some time off before concluding the adventure, serialized in 1953

Explorers on the Moon

Notice he was building on the idea of a V-2 rocket. There are no stages as in a Saturn rocket. The VTOL Rocket idea remained popular throughout the 1950s

While Tin Tin is off in space with Professor Calculus, his assistant, Haddock (and Snowy) its clear there is another group interfering with the mission.

Here we see Earth from space. That's Europe down there. Hello Europe down there

Something that #Apollo11 didn't have to deal with was stowaways. Enter detectives Thomson and Thompson who never intended to be in the rocket at launch

I think the Three Stooges do something similar in 1959s Have Rocket Will Travel

This is the stuff I really love - we don't get this 'Just sit back and take in the wonder of it' enough in comics, and it does it so well

1953: Readers of Tin Tin get to see the Earth as a Big Blue Marble.

That's home, ladies and gentlemen
The only home we have

In 1971, Astronaut Alan Shephard smuggled golf balls to the moon.

In 1953, Captain Haddock smuggled something else

Herge gives us scenes of zero gravity (and lectures about it) and astronauts going EVA

I wonder how many kids put fish bowls on their head after reading this stuff

#Apollo50th must have had a moment like this

Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon!

#TinTin on the moon

If this was the dream in 1953, then #Apollo50th made that dream come true in 1969

One long descent down a ladder for #Tintin
One giant ascent in the dreams of all mankind

There is a lot of plot between some of these lovely panels. However, the plot intrudes here with a matter of oxygen.

If you've ever read Tom Godwin's "Cold Equation" you will recall the cruel reality about space ships and extra people

And it gets worse for #tintin - another stowaway, and this one not just by accident.

Worse still, the professor's assistant is in on it.

Lots of things happen - including the stowaway hitting Snowy with a wrench and kicking him down a hatchway. #Tintin foils the plans

We get a lot of exposition here - but really shows why there are rules about security clearances

And we go back to a central question in the exploration of space - there is only so much fuel, and so much air.

Do you leave the spies on board, and risk running out of air, or leave them to die on the moon?

The spies get free, and again, there just isn't enough air to get them home!

A disagreement
A struggle
A shot

The evil spy is dead
BUT there still isn't enough air!

An amazing moment

The Cold Equation is Balanced.

The Professor's blackmailed assistant tries to make amends by going out an airlock, so maybe, just maybe the air will hold out long enough and they won't die

To send men into space
and return them safely to Earth

The crew do return, minus one spy and one assistant

Notice again the complete rocket - not a capsule only coming back. It lands right near its take off point

So Herge got some things right, and some things wrong in his #Tintin to the Moon story

He certainly got the grand adventure of it

This will be 'splashdown' for this thread

Keep Looking Up

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