Hergé. On a Marché sur la Lune. Sgd. and insc. by Hergé and 8 Apollo astronauts, inc. 7 Moonwalkers

[Moonwalkers] Hergé

Les Aventures de Tintin; On a Marché sur la Lune. Belgium: Casterman, 1954. 

4to. Original illustrated wrappers.

WITH: Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin; Explorers on the Moon. London: Egmont, 2012. 4to. Original illustrated wrappers. T

SIGNED AND INSCRIBED ON FLY LEAF AND HALF-TITLE BY THE AUTHOR AND EIGHT APOLLO ASTRONAUTS INCLUDING A MOONWALKER FROM EACH MISSION AS FOLLOWS:

-“FIRST MOONWALKER AFTER TINTIN / BUZZ ALDRIN"

-"I MIGHT SEE FOOTPRINTS OF NEIL AND MIKE, BUT I AM NOT SURE ABOUT TINTIN / ALAN BEAN APOLLO 12" 

- “LIKE TINTIN BEFORE ME, WE HAVE HAD PROBLEMS DURING OUR FLIGHT TO THE MOON, BUT WE CAME BACK SAFE! / FRED HAISE APOLLO 13"

- "LONGEST WALK ON THE MOON AFTER TIN TIN / EDGAR MITCHELL. APOLLO 14 LMP"

- "WHEN RETURNING FROM THE MOON, I TOOK THE FARTHEST OUT SPACE WALK, INCLUDING TINTIN'S / AL WORDEN APOLLO 15"

- "THE YOUNGEST MOONWALKER AFTER TINTIN! / CHARLIE DUKE APOLLO 16"

-"I AM NOT SURE TINTIN WAS THE FIRST MOON WALKER BUT I AM SURE TO BE THE LAST ONE (UP TO NOW!) / GENE CERNAN APOLLO XXVII"

Published fifteen years before Neil Armstrong took his first, fateful steps on the moon's surface, On a Marché sur la Lune by the Belgian author and cartoonist Hergé told the story of his beloved hero, Tintin, taking part in the first manned mission to outer space. Alongside his canine companion, Snowy, and his friends Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Frank Wolff, Tintin becomes the first human to step on the moon after the rocket ship lands in the Hipparchus Crater. Hergé sought to tell this other-worldly story as realistically as possible; while exploring stalactite caves, Tintin and his crew do not encounter monsters or moon men, and instead deal with the prophetic problems of weightlessness, oxygen supply, and manning a space craft safely back to earth. The story itself is a charming combination of the human imagination and scientific research, capturing the spirit and excitement of lunar travel that clearly resonated years later as an entire generation watched the first men walk on the moon.