5 a.m.
The bolts upon the right-hand port-hole were carefully unscrewed , and an opening of about half a yard made , whilst Michel prepared to hurl his dog into space . The window , worked by a powerful lever , which conquered the pressure of air in the interior upon the sides of the projectile , moved upon its hinges , and Satellite was thrown out . Scarcely a particle of air escaped , and the operation succeeded so well that later on Barbicane did not fear to get rid of all the useless rubbish that encumbered the vehicle in the same way . On the 4th of December , at 5 a.m. by terrestrial reckoning , the travellers awoke , having been fifty-four hours on their journey . They had only been five hours and forty minutes more than half the time assigned for the accomplishment of their journey , but they had come more than seven-tenths of the distance . This peculiarity was due to their regularly-decreasing speed . When they looked at the earth through the port-light at the bottom , it only looked like a black spot drowned in the sun 's rays .