Editing Explorers on the Moon (section)

{{short description|Comic album by Belgian cartoonist Hergé}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox graphic novel
|title=Explorers on the Moon
|foreigntitle=On a marché sur la Lune
|image=The Adventures of Tintin - 17 - Explorers on the Moon.jpg
|alt=Wearing space suits, Tintin, Snowy, and Haddock are exploring the surface of the moon, with their rocket ship in the background.
|caption=Cover of the English edition
|publisher=[[Casterman]]
|date=1954
|series=''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]''
|creator=[[Hergé]]
|origlanguage=French
|origpublication=''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'' magazine
|origdate=29 Oct 1952&nbsp;– 29 Dec 1953
|origisbn=<!-- ISBN was not created until 1965 -->
|transpublisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]]
|transdate=1959
|transisbn=<!-- ISBN was not created until 1965 -->
|translator={{plainlist|
*Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper
*Michael Turner}}
|previous=''[[Destination Moon (comics)|Destination Moon]]''
|previous-date=1953
|next=''[[The Calculus Affair]]''
|next-date=1956
}}

'''''Explorers on the Moon''''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|'''On a marché sur la Lune'''}}; literally: ''We walked on the Moon'') is the seventeenth volume of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist [[Hergé]]. The story was [[Serial (literature)|serialised]] weekly in Belgium's ''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'' magazine from October 1952 to December 1953 before being published in a collected volume by [[Casterman]] in 1954. Completing a story arc begun in the preceding volume, ''[[Destination Moon (comics)|Destination Moon]]'' (1953), the narrative tells of the young reporter [[Tintin (character)|Tintin]], his dog [[Snowy (character)|Snowy]], and friends [[Captain Haddock]], [[Professor Calculus]], and [[Thomson and Thompson]] who are aboard humanity's first crewed rocket mission to the Moon.

Developed in part through the suggestions of Hergé's friends [[Bernard Heuvelmans]] and [[Jacques Van Melkebeke]], ''Explorers on the Moon'' was produced following Hergé's extensive research into the possibility of human space travel&nbsp;– a feat that had yet to be achieved&nbsp;– with the cartoonist seeking for the work to be as realistic as possible. Hergé continued ''The Adventures of Tintin'' with ''[[The Calculus Affair]]'', while the series itself became a defining part of the [[Franco-Belgian comics|Franco-Belgian comics tradition]]. Critics have held the illustrative detail of the book in high regard, but have expressed divided opinions of the story; some consider it to be among the most mature and emotionally resonant entries in the series, while others fault it for downplaying the humour seen in previous volumes in favour of the scientific focus of the narrative. The story was adapted for the 1957 [[Belvision Studios|Belvision]] animated series ''[[Hergé's Adventures of Tintin]]'', the 1989 computer game ''[[Tintin on the Moon]]'', the 1991 [[Ellipse Programmé|Ellipse]]/[[Nelvana]] animated series ''[[The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)|The Adventures of Tintin]]'', and the 1992-3 [[BBC Radio 5 (former)|BBC Radio 5]] dramatisation of the ''Adventures''.