[3][4] The book profiles a fictional journey to the Moon to explain the science of rocketry as it stood in 1931.

[5] It uses contemporary knowledge on rockets to create a reasonable description of the hardware necessary to make spaceflight possible.

According to the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, it contains the earliest known use of the word "astrogator", meaning space navigator.

The New York Times stated on January 10, 1932 that "despite its literary and artistic faults the book cannot but capture the imagination of a reader interested in science.

[7] Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the introduction to the 2002 edition, said that the book "was one of the turning points in [his] life.