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mountains on its surface clearly using binoculars! Most of the features on its surface have
resulted from meteorites crashing, creating lots of different sized craters. The Moon has been
explored several times, and is an important focus for further exploration and possible future
colonisation by humans.
Moon Missions
The Apollo missions to the moon provided scientists with huge amounts of lunar
data to help us understand more about the Moon, in the form of samples,
experiments and photographs. Six of the Apollo missions resulted in lunar landings;
Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
The first lunar landing during the Apollo 11 mission was commanded by Neil
Armstrong, who became the first man to walk on the Moon at 2.56am (GMT) on
21st July 1969.
The Apollo 13 mission was a very famous successful failure where an oxygen tank
explosion caused the crew to abandon its mission in order to get back to Earth
safely. The positive attitude of the crew and problem solving of mission control
resulted in the crew successfully returning to Earth unharmed, despite being
enclosed in a small cramped space with barely enough power or water to survive
the four day journey.
D
Did
you
k
know?
The Moon
doesnt orbit the
Earth in a perfect
circle?
cl The average
distance of the Moon
from Earth is 384,537km,
however, as it moves
around its oval orbit the
actual distance from the
Earths centre varies
between 363,104km and
405,969km!
ACTION:
Did you
know?
That the Moon
spins on its
y
own axis in exactly
the same time it
ne
takes to complete one
orbit of the Earth?
This means that we only
ever see the same face
of the Moon! The far
side of the Moon can
only be seen from Outer
Space.
You can also find out how much of the moon you will
be able to see tonight by downloading our moon
phase calendar:
www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/astronomy.aspx