Did you know that the Moon is a natural satellite of Earth?
It orbits around Earth and is said to be about 4.5 billion years old!
Here are ten fun facts about the moon:
1. The Moon is not round – it’s actually shaped like an egg!
2. The dark side of the moon is called the “far side” because we can never see it from Earth.
3. The Moon has no atmosphere, which means that there is no wind or weather on the Moon.
4. The temperature on the Moon can range from -233 degrees Celsius to 123 degrees Celsius.
5. There are over 100 craters on the Moon that are each named after a different person or thing.
6. The largest crater on the Moon is called Bailly and it measures 1,142 kilometers wide!
7. The first person to walk on the Moon was Neil Armstrong and he did so on July 20th, 1969 as part of Apollo 11 mission.
8. The footprints left by astronauts will likely stay there for millions of years because there is no wind or rain on the moon to erase them!
9. The last person to set foot on the lunar surface was Gene Cernan as part of Apollo 17 in December 1972 – making him also the oldest person to have walked on the moon at age 52!
10 Although dozens of countries have sent robotic probes to study our natural satellite up-close, only Russia (with its Luna program) and United States (with various Apollo missions) have sent manned missions – meaning that all 12 people who have ever walked on another world were American men born in Europe.
