Chris Calle (American, B. 1961) "Blue Planet Space Explorers" Signed lower right. Original Mixed Media on Illustration Board painting. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. 29c Blue Planet stamp issued January 25, 1993. In his book From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne sent his travelers moonward aboard a hollow projectile fired from a huge cannon. When the novel was written in 1865, propelling people into space via huge guns sounded quite feasible. Of course we now know the space-gun idea will not work. The force of departure at escape velocity would not only kill the astronauts, but atmospheric friction would melt the craft as well. Verne also erred when describing zero gravity. In his story, the intrepid travelers experienced weightlessness only when their projectile arrived at the "neutral" point -- where the Earth's pull balances that of the Moon's. But all things considered, it's astounding how many of Verne's predictions eventually came true. His imaginary cannon was fired not far from Cape Canaveral; the splash-down was quite close to Apollo 1's re-entry, and the enormous fictional telescope Verne built on Colorado's Long's Peak proved to be the precursor of the 200-inch Hale reflector at Mt. Palomar. Verne may have also been the first to envision artificial satellites. In The Begum's Fortune, the malevolent Professor Schultz fired a shell at the metropolis of Frankville. But, alas, the shell was fired with such great velocity it missed Frankville, hurtling into space where it remained in closed orbit round the Earth. As with From the Earth to the Moon, however, the effects of air resistance were ignored. Image Size: 13.75 x 12 in. Overall Size: 23 x 19.25 in. Unframed. (B14126)