Page 305 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

TRUE OR FALSE? 303
There is a dark Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Moon rotated FAST FACTS
much more quickly than it does today, taking less time to
orbit Earth. As the Moon’s gravity slowed Earth’s spin, the
side of the Moon Moon took longer to orbit Earth and its spin slowed down. IF YOU
Today, the Moon takes 27.3 days to make one rotation on
its axis, and to complete one orbit around our planet. Since
STEPPED ON
the rotation and orbit times are equal, the same side of the
THE MOON, YOUR
Moon is permanently visible to us on Earth.
FOOTPRINTS MIGHT
The sun’s light STAY THERE FOREVER
A dusting of rock and soil sweeps around the
covers the cratered surface. Moon as it spins, just This is because, unlike on Earth, there is no
Most craters formed in the as it does on Earth. wind or water to blow or wash the footprints
first 750 million years of the The Moon’s shine is away. The Moon doesn’t have volcanoes either,
Moon’s life when asteroids this reflected sunlight. so its surface stays the same. It is possible
made their mark. that future visitors may wipe out the footprints,
or they could wear away as meteorites strike
the surface of the Moon.
THE MOON IS THE MOST
POPULAR DESTINATION
FOR SPACECRAFT
Since the first one arrived in 1959, more than
60 spacecraft have visited the Moon. Astronauts
on the Apollo 8 spacecraft were the first to see
the dark side of the Moon in 1968.

1959 LUNA 3 1969 APOLLO 11
a flyby, took the first first humans to
images of the far side land on the Moon

2007 CHANG’E 1 2009 LUNAR
China’s first RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER
lunar orbiter currently mapping the Moon

Why does the
Moon turn
red during
an eclipse? A flag was planted there by American
astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1969 when
he became the first person to step on the
Moon, but it was blown down by the rocket
exhaust as the astronauts blasted off for
home. However, flags from other Apollo
missions still stand on the lunar surface.

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