William Atkins
Friday, 12 December 2008 20:19
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
And, its nearest point, what produces the large, bright Moon on Friday, is because the Moon is at its closest point from Earth, or its perigee point. That distance is about 356,567 kilometers (221,560 miles) from Earth.
The Moon makes one orbit around the Earth is about 29.5 days (about one month on our calendars).
Humans have traveled to the Moon in person. It is the only celestial body that humans have traveled to, as of 2008, although in the twenty-first century, several countries are developing spacecraft to send astronauts to the planet Mars.
The U.S.
Apollo program, directed by NASA, set twelve astronauts upon its surface in six separate missions between 1969 and 1972. The United States, so far, is the only country on Earth to send humans to the Moon.
Before the Apollo program, the
Luna 1 spacecraft, developed by the Soviet Union (now, Russia), became the first human-made object to impact the Moon, which it did in 1959.
The first spacecraft to make a successful soft-landing on the Moon was
Luna 9, also by the Soviets, and the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon was
Luna 10, with both events occurring in 1966.
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