ITWire

The first glimpse of our planet Earth from outer space happened 45 years ago when the U.S. Lunar Orbiter 1 took a picture of Earth on August 23, 1966 while orbiting the Moon. Now, Neil Armstrong makes a rare public appearance in Australia to comment on the future of U.S. space exploration.

The nearside of the Moon is flat and low, while the farside contains mountains and craters. Why are the two lunar sides so different? An August 3, 2011, Nature article contends that a smaller moon of the Earth crashed into a larger moon, and the two joined together -- what one of the authors compares to the flinging of a cow pie.

Australia had plenty of moon units gazing up at Earth's major orbiter early this morning, as a red, dead moondemption eclipsed the threat of ash - but wasn't able to overcome view-marring cloudy weather for some.