Tin Tin First On The Moon
Updated : Jul 21, 2009
A certain Belgian boy reporter named Tintin was the first to reach the moon, the Vatican newspaper joked Monday as the world marked 40 years since the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
US astronaut Neil Armstrong "was not the first human to tread on the surface of the moon," Osservatore Romano teased.
"It was the famous Tintin, who took off from the secret space base of Sbrodj, in Syldavia," it said.
The intrepid hero of Belgian artist Herge's beloved comic-book series flies to the moon along with the cantankerous Captain Haddock, the eccentric Professor Calculus and Tintin's faithful dog Snowy in "Destination Moon."
The album, published in 1953, was followed the next year with "Explorers on the Moon."
"You see Tintin and you would think you're looking at (Buzz) Aldrin, if it weren't for the attractive orange colour of Herge's hero's spacesuit," the Osservatore Romano said.
Turning serious for a moment, the Vatican mouthpiece also recalled the many comments made by then Pope Paul VI on the American achievement.
