Moon Facts and Trivia
There are very many interesting facts about the moon. The moon has interested man forever. Every country in the world has wanted travel to the moon. Many people do not know much about the moon and others know a lot. There are so many facts about the giant rock it is hard to remember all of them.
Fun Facts
It takes the Moon about 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 11.6 seconds to go all the way around the Earth and return to its starting position. The Moon is 4.5 billion years old (Barrow). That is very old. To see which way the moon travels looking down from the north pole, we would see the moon orbiting counterclockwise from west to east (Barrow). Did you know the moon is about 250,000 miles from Earth. Quite a distance. We also always see the same side of the moon. The Moon always keeps the same side pointing.
Apollo missions
The United States space program, NASA, decided to go to the moon in 1969 and they called it the Apollo Program. They also wanted to get there before the Russians. The Program had a rough start because many people did not want anything to do with the moon. But the very first mission, Apollo 1, exploded on lift off and killed the crew of three (NASA). After that missions 2-6 were unmanned test orbits. Missions 7-10 were manned test orbits and actually reached the moon but did not land. Apollo 11 was the very first mission to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins manned Apollo 11. Collins never walked on the moon. He stayed in the command module orbiting the moon. Apollo 13 was the next important mission, named The Successful Failure. They were not able to land on the moon because there was an explosion in the oxygen tanks in the service module, almost costing the crew their lives. They just orbited and returned safely to earth. Many people did not want to try another mission but NASA said it would not stop them. There were 17 Apollo missions total and lasted until 1972. NASA is planning to go back in the near future (NASA).
The Moon's Surface
Because of the Apollo missions we learned a lot about the surface of the moon. The moon is littered with craters, which are formed when meteors hit its surface. Believe it or not it is not uncommon for debris to crash into the moon, it happens all the time. Besides craters, geologists have noticed cinder cone volcanoes, lava tubes and old lava flows, which indicate that the moon was volcanically active at some point (Freudenrich). The moon has no true soil because it has no living matter in it. Instead, the "soil" is called regolith. Astronauts noted that the regolith was a fine powder of rock fragments and volcanic glass particles interspersed with larger rocks.(Freudenrich)
The moon, where can you go wrong? This fascinating rock is pretty interesting. And so are all the missions to the moon. The moon will never stop interesting man. And man will just keep asking what's next.
Works Cited
"Apollo." NASA n.pag. NASA. Database. 13 Jan 2012.
Barrow, Mandy. "The Moon." www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/facts.htm. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan 2012.
Freudenrich, Craig. "How the Moon Works ." How Stuff Works. 2012: n. page. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
"Mission Facts." Piece of Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan 2012. <fi.edu/pieces/hiley/mission.htm>.
There are very many interesting facts about the moon. The moon has interested man forever. Every country in the world has wanted travel to the moon. Many people do not know much about the moon and others know a lot. There are so many facts about the giant rock it is hard to remember all of them.
Fun Facts
It takes the Moon about 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 11.6 seconds to go all the way around the Earth and return to its starting position. The Moon is 4.5 billion years old (Barrow). That is very old. To see which way the moon travels looking down from the north pole, we would see the moon orbiting counterclockwise from west to east (Barrow). Did you know the moon is about 250,000 miles from Earth. Quite a distance. We also always see the same side of the moon. The Moon always keeps the same side pointing.
Apollo missions
The Moon's Surface
Because of the Apollo missions we learned a lot about the surface of the moon. The moon is littered with craters, which are formed when meteors hit its surface. Believe it or not it is not uncommon for debris to crash into the moon, it happens all the time. Besides craters, geologists have noticed cinder cone volcanoes, lava tubes and old lava flows, which indicate that the moon was volcanically active at some point (Freudenrich). The moon has no true soil because it has no living matter in it. Instead, the "soil" is called regolith. Astronauts noted that the regolith was a fine powder of rock fragments and volcanic glass particles interspersed with larger rocks.(Freudenrich)
The moon, where can you go wrong? This fascinating rock is pretty interesting. And so are all the missions to the moon. The moon will never stop interesting man. And man will just keep asking what's next.
Works Cited
"Apollo." NASA n.pag. NASA. Database. 13 Jan 2012.
Barrow, Mandy. "The Moon." www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/facts.htm. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan 2012.
Freudenrich, Craig. "How the Moon Works ." How Stuff Works. 2012: n. page. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
"Mission Facts." Piece of Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan 2012. <fi.edu/pieces/hiley/mission.htm>.