DARLAH (English title: 172 Hours on the Moon) is a 2008 young adult science fiction/horror novel by Norwegian author Johan Harstad.

Rights to DARLAH have also been sold to sixteen other countries: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, France, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Turkey, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil.

The stunt is believed to be a way of increasing both funding and public interest, but the real reason is that NASA intends to study a mystical phenomenon with a sinister edge that was previously discovered during the original Moon landings.

Three teenagers from Norway, Japan, and France (Mia, Midori, and Antoine respectively) are excited at the rare opportunity to see the Moon firsthand as well as stay in the formerly secret lunar base DARLAH 2, which was built in the 1970s during Operation DP7.

The code "6EQUJ5" has been following the three teenagers everywhere since shortly after they are selected to travel to the Moon, with Mia seeing "6E" written on a hobo's jacket, Antoine seeing "QU" on a crashing plane, which never existed, and Midori seeing "J5" as the airport gate leading to where she is to depart for the United States.

Ever since the first Moon landing, the doppelgangers have attacked any and all astronauts, nearly killing the crew of Apollo 13, and after analyzing a detached doppelgänger arm, NASA finds that the beings are not living, as they are composed of an unknown inorganic material.

A mission report appears at the end of the book from the spacecraft Providence, returning to the Moon on the way to Europa in 2081, finding the bodies of Mia, the lunar module pilot, the engineers and the moonbase commander.

Prior to the US release of 172 Hours on the Moon in July 2012, Little, Brown, the publishing house, created an extensive media campaign to promote the book.

In addition, a Facebook-profile[3] was created, as well as a Twitter account where Mia, Midori and Antoine, the three teenage protagonists in the novel updated followers in real-time about the last preparations leading up to the announced liftoff, which was in fact just the date and time for the release of the book.

[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Harstad also attended the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, taking part in panel discussions with other sci-fi/horror novelists, such as Mark Z. Danielewski, as well as doing signings.