12 o'clock
The Moon 's size on the sky was meantime getting larger and larger ; her apparent distance was growing shorter and shorter , until at last they could almost imagine that by putting their hands out they could nearly touch her . Next morning , December 5th , all were up and dressed at a very early hour . This was to be the last day of their journey , if all calculations were correct . That very night , at 12 o'clock , within nineteen hours at furthest , at the very moment of Full Moon , they were to reach her resplendent surface . At that hour was to be completed the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by man in ancient or modern times . Naturally enough , therefore , they found themselves unable to sleep after four o'clock in the morning ; peering upwards through the windows now visibly glittering under the rays of the Moon , they spent some very exciting hours in gazing at her slowly enlarging disc , and shouting at her with confident and joyful hurrahs . The majestic Queen of the Stars had now risen so high in the spangled heavens that she could hardly rise higher .