five o'clock
The bolts of the right scuttle , the opening of which measured about twelve inches across , were carefully drawn , while Michel , quite grieved , prepared to launch his dog into space . The glass , raised by a powerful lever , which enabled it to overcome the pressure of the inside air on the walls of the projectile , turned rapidly on its hinges , and Satellite was thrown out . Scarcely a particle of air could have escaped , and the operation was so successful that later on Barbicane did not fear to dispose of the rubbish which encumbered the car . On the 4th of December , when the travelers awoke after fifty-four hours ' journey , the chronometer marked five o'clock of the terrestrial morning . In time it was just over five hours and forty minutes , half of that assigned to their sojourn in the projectile ; but they had already accomplished nearly seven-tenths of the way . This peculiarity was due to their regularly decreasing speed . Now when they observed the earth through the lower window , it looked like nothing more than a dark spot , drowned in the solar rays .