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The Moon

With the 45th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing on July 20, we thought we would take a look at some lunar events.

3.8

The number of centimeters the Moon moves away from the earth every year.

12

Number of people who have walked on the Moon (all are American male astronauts).

27.3

Number of days it takes the Moon to orbit Earth.

84

Percentage of the lunar surface pocked by craters because there is no atmosphere to protect it from meteors and other space debris.

1959

Year of the first unmanned mission to the Moon, by the Soviet Lunar Program.

2019

The year NASA plans to return to the Moon to set up a permanent space station.

2,160

The diameter in miles of the lunar surface.

221,765

Number of miles between Earth and the Moon on Aug. 10, which brings the two entities closer than any other time in the year. Because of the closeness, the Aug. 10 full moon is known as a “supermoon,” referring to the Moon’s closest approach to Earth coinciding with the full Moon, giving the appearance of a bigger and brighter Moon. This will be the biggest looking Moon of the year. On July 12 we experienced the first supermoon of the summer. There are four to six supermoons on average during a year. Look for another one on Sept. 9.

4.5 billion

The estimated age of the Moon.

Source: NASA, space.com