Product Description

The first manned rocked, bound for the Moon, has just launched from the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre in Syldavia. On board are Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and the engineer Frank Wolff. At the Centre, intense efforts are being made to establish radio contact with the rocket's passengers out in space. Tintin and his friends have fainted from the acceleration on launching. Their recovery is anxiously awaited. The wireless masts stand sentinel in the night sky, but they receive no message...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1947953 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Amazon.com Review
Concluding the journey that began in Destination Moon, Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus are on their way to the moon, but unforeseen circumstances--innocent and otherwise--threaten the best-laid plans. Ever since it was first published in 1953, this technologically fascinating tale has probably been many kids' first glimpse of the mechanics involved in space travel, but the plot is as riveting as anything Herge ever wrote. --David Horiuchi

From Publishers Weekly
It was bound to happen. Having journeyed everywhere from America to the Congo to Tibet, Tintin blasts into outer space. Together with his faithful pooch, Snowy, the spunky boy reporter has joined an expedition "based at the Sprodj Atomic Center, high in the Zmyhlpathian Mountains, in the kingdom of Syldavia." Following a perfect lift-off, the myriad misadventures begin, as the ubiquitous "certified detectives," Thomson and Thompson, are discovered on board--inadvertent stowaways who threaten to monopolize the ship's precious oxygen supply. All's well that lands well, however, as Tintin and his colleagues return safely. Except for two diverting spreads, the fairly pedestrian paper engineering adds little zip; the palette, too, seems somewhat attenuated for a tale of astronomical derring-do. Though the narrative is overlong for the pop-up book set, this disparity will probably not deter the intrepid voyager's many fans. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3-- Carrot-topped Tintin and companions travel to the Moon in Professor Calculus's spaceship and, thanks to bumbling stowaways Thompson and Thompson, have barely enough air to get back. The story itself was published some years ago, but readers can enjoy here a set of amusing, if fragile, flaps, wheels, sliding tabs, and other pop-up effects--the only sort of dimension this vanishingly slight adventure features. The herky-jerky narrative, laughable science, contrived disasters, and heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages are excellent reasons to pass this up, and Tintin fans will certainly forgive you if you do.
- John Peter, New York Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Futuristic animated adventure
This science fictional comic , written in 1954 , 14 years before the first actual moon landing , fails to disappoint , after the precedent set by its prequel , 'Destination Moon'.
This adventure sees Tintin and friends successfully go to the moon and back , defeating such problems as a rapidly depleting oxygen source and villains who have followed them into space .
I read it when I was ten and it led me to become interested in space.
I remember sitting on top of the roof of my home , reading it , and seeing a shooting star fly by. There is something intriguing about these comics.

Big wow factor in this one.
Herge, Explorers on the Moon (Methuen, 1954)

What strikes me most about Explorers on the Moon is, having been written in the early fifties, how precise it is, and how accurate (until, of course, Herge has to wander off and throw in a few of those Martian "canals" that were all the rage in popular thinking at the time to supply some extra danger for our intrepid heroes). Great noises were made starting with The Black Island about Herge doing intensive research on the places he sent his crew in response to the charges of racism levelled at Tintin au Congo. You know as well as I do that Herge never set foot on the moon, but the intensive research was still there, and at a time when if you were doing that kind of research, you were more likely reading incomprehensible scientific articles than kids' books. Needless to say, all the research forms the grounds for the usual Tintin mix of adventure, intrigue, and danger, and adds into it the dream of many a kid who grew up in the fifties and sixties. ****

Exploring Tintins wonderful books
This was a great book! It surveyed knowledge of astronomy(which is always interesting), and then put on top of that a great mystery and awsome characters! You can't have a great Tintin story without Captain Haddock, Tintin, Proffesor Calculous, T&T, Snowy, and even Wolf make the story great. Herge really knows how to write!