Moonlight Mile (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Superior from December 2000 to November 2011, when the manga entered a ten-year hiatus. It resumed publication on Pixiv in December 2021. A 26-episode anime television series by Studio Hibari was broadcast on Wowow for two seasons in 2007.
The story follows a pair of mountain climbers who decide to become astronauts. Yasuo Ohtagaki says, in the preview special of the anime, that his goal in writing the story was to create a realistic space drama that features the political elements involved in modern space missions. Ken Noguchi, a professional mountain climber, provided inspiration to the creators of Moonlight Mile for their depictions of ascending Mount Everest.[2]
Plot
Gorou Saruwatari and Jack "Lostman" Woodbridge are mountain climbers who have ascended some of the highest mountains around the world. At the peak of Mount Everest, they see the International Space Station