Verniana — Jules Verne Studies / Etudes Jules Verne — Volume 11 (2018–2020) — 43–52
L'origine du compte à rebours
The origin of the countdown which is traditionally chanted when launching a rocket, is attributed to Fritz Lang in his film Woman in the Moon (1929). However, one can already find hints of a countdown in Jules Verne’s lunar novels From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870), and in a more achieved form in Topsy Turvy (1889). And it appeared in George Griffith’s short story The Great Crellin Comet (1897) inspired from Jules Verne.
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