12 P.M.
This , once created , would continue to exist though the force that created it were cut off , and would exactly counterbalance the opposite rotation impulse derived from the Earth ; so that thenceforward I should be entirely free from the influence of the latter , though still sharing that motion of the Earth through space at the rate of nearly nineteen miles per second , which would carry me towards the line joining at the moment of opposition her centre with that of Mars . All went as I had calculated . I contrived to arrest the Astronaut 's motion at the required elevation just about the moment of sunset on the region of the Earth immediately underneath . At 12 P.M. , or 24h by the chronometer , I directed a current of the requisite strength into the eastward conductor , which I had previously pointed to the Earth 's surface , but a little short of the extreme terrestrial horizon , as I calculated it . At 1 A.M. I found myself , judging by the stars , exactly where I wished to be , and nearly stationary as regarded the Earth . I instantly arrested the eastward current , detaching that conductor from the apergion ; and , directing the whole force of the current into the downward conductor , I had the pleasure of seeing that , after a very little adjustment of the helm , the stars remained stationary in the mirror of the metacompass , showing that I had escaped from the influence of the Earth 's rotation . It was of course impossible to measure the distance traversed during the invisibility of the Earth , but I reckoned that I had made above 500 miles between 1h .