NASA Facts About The Moon:
- The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and the fifth largest moon in the solar system.
- The Moon’s presence helps stabilize our planet’s wobble and moderate our climate.
- The Moon’s distance from Earth is about 240,000 miles (385,000km).
- The Moon has a very thin atmosphere called an exosphere.
- The Moon’s surface is cratered and pitted from comet and asteroid impacts.
- Earth's Moon is the only place beyond Earth where humans have set foot.
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The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth.
Earth's Moon is the fifth largest of the 200+ moons orbiting planets in our solar system. Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.
NASA currently has three robotic spacecraft exploring the Moon – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the twin ARTEMIS spacecraft (not to be confused with NASA's new Artemis program to send astronauts back to the Moon).
Explore Earth's Moon In Depth >>>>
10 Need-to-Know Things About the Moon:
1. SMALL COMPANION
If you set a single green pea next to a U.S. nickel, you'd have a pretty good idea of the size of the Moon compared to Earth.
2. CONSTANT COMPANION
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It goes around the Earth at a distance of about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers).
3. LOCKED UP
The Earth and Moon are tidally locked. Their rotations are so in sync we only see one side of the Moon. Humans didn't see the lunar far side until a Soviet spacecraft flew past in 1959.
4. CAN STAND ON IT
The Moon has a solid, rocky surface cratered and pitted from impacts by asteroids, meteorites, and comets.
5. BRING A SPACESUIT
The Moon has a very thin and tenuous atmosphere called an exosphere. It is not breathable.
6. MOONLESS
The Moon has no moons.
7. RINGLESS
The Moon has no rings.
8. MANY VISITORS
More than 105 robotic spacecraft have been launched to explore the Moon. It is the only celestial body beyond Earth – so far – visited by human beings.
9. POTENTIAL FOR LIFE?
The Moon's weak atmosphere and its lack of liquid water cannot support life as we know it.
10. MOONWALKERS
Apollo astronauts brought back a total of 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar rocks and soil to Earth. We are still studying them.
Exploration Summary
The Moon was the first place beyond Earth humans tried to reach as the Space Age began in the late 1950s. More than 100 robotic explorers from more than half a dozen nations have since sent spacecraft to the Moon. Nine crewed missions have flown to the Moon and back.
The former Soviet Union logged the first successes with its Luna program, starting with Luna 1 in 1959. NASA followed with a series of robotic Ranger and Surveyor spacecraft that performed increasingly complex tasks that made it possible for the first human beings to walk on the Moon in 1969.
Twenty-four humans have traveled from the Earth to the Moon. Twelve walked on its surface. The last human visited the lunar surface in 1972, the last and only geologist to date was Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Ph.D.
Now NASA is gearing up to set up a permanent lunar presence on the Moon. The Artemis program will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon and set the stage for further human exploration at Mars. The program takes its name from the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and eventually Mars.
More:
NASA's Moon to Mars Strategy
Gravity Assist Podcast: What's so Special About the Moon?
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