midnight
At the same time the Gun Club had a gigantic telescope set up on one of the highest summits of the Rocky Mountains , through which the projectile could be followed during its journey through space . Everything was then ready . On the 30th of November , at the time fixed , amidst an extraordinary concourse of spectators , the departure took place , and for the first time three human beings left the terrestrial globe for the interplanetary regions with almost the certainty of reaching their goal . These audacious travellers , Michel Ardan , President Barbicane , and Captain Nicholl were to accomplish their journey in ninety-seven hours thirteen minutes and twenty seconds ; consequently they could not reach the lunar disc until the 5th of December , at midnight , at the precise moment that the moon would be full , and not on the 4th , as some wrongly-informed newspapers had given out . But an unexpected circumstance occurred ; the detonation produced by the Columbiad had the immediate effect of disturbing the terrestrial atmosphere , where an enormous quantity of vapour accumulated . This phenomenon excited general indignation , for the moon was hidden during several nights from the eyes of her contemplators . The worthy J.T. Maston , the greatest friend of the three travellers , set out for the Rocky Mountains in the company of the Honourable J. Belfast , director of the Cambridge Observatory , and reached the station of Long 's Peak , where the telescope was set up which brought the moon , apparently , to within two leagues .