Fire!
- It's December first, the day of the launch—Stone Hill is surrounded by a massive crowd of people from all over the world.
- Our three proto-astronauts are greeted by a decent rendition of "Yankee Doodle," and J.T. Maston tries one last time to get into the capsule. He is rebuffed one last time, though. Poor guy.
- Finally, they enter the capsule and prepare for launch. When the cannon is finally fired, it releases a "superhuman" sound and "immense column of flame" (26.28). That's supposed to happen, right?