5 a.m
They expected unforeseen incidents , fresh phenomena , and nothing would have astonished them under present circumstances . Their excited imagination outdistanced the projectile , the speed of which diminished notably without their feeling it . But the moon grew larger before their eyes , and they thought they had only to stretch out their hands to touch it . The next day , the 5th of December , they were all wide awake at 5 a.m. . That day was to be the last of their journey if the calculations were exact . That same evening , at midnight , within eighteen hours , at the precise moment of full moon , they would reach her brilliant disc . The next midnight would bring them to the goal of their journey , the most extraordinary one of ancient or modern times .