Jules Verne’s mythical journey to the Moon in the 1880’s was presented as strikingly similar to Apollo 11, launched on July 16, 1969: both had three-man crews, both landed in the Pacific Ocean, both used retro-rockets for descent, both blasted off from Central Florida, Florida and Texas sought control of both missions, the spacecraft dimensions were approximately the same, astronauts in both were secured in couches at launch, Verne’s craft was Columbiad while Apollo 11 was Columbia, air in both craft was recycled through potash to absorb CO2, and Columbiad had a crewman named Ardan while Columbia had Aldin.