Mysteries of the Moon : The moon is the Eath's nearest neighbour in space. You can often see it clearly at night. Starting as a full moon, it changes a little each night until it disappears altogether. A few days later, a small crescent appears again. From Earth we see only one side of the moon. As it orbits the Earth, the moon kepps the same side facing the Earth. No one had ever seen the other side until the Russian space rocket Luna 3 flew around it and photographed it in 1959.
Looking at the moon:
Astronomers knew that the Moon was dry and rocky. But they did not know, until the first rocket crashed-landed in 1959, it was covered with a think layer of dust. Until then they thought that any spacecraft might disappear in dust many metres thick.
On the moon:
As there is no weather on the moon, and the sun always shines, the Moon's surface does not get worn away. Footprints in the dust made by American astronauts will be there in millions of years' time.
Astronauts have to wear space suits when they are on the Moon. The suits keep them cool, supply them with air to breath, and are pressuized. As there is no air pressure astronauts would die without them.
The flag, put up by the American astronauts is held out by a bar because there is no wind to make it fly.
Did you know?
If an athlete on the Moon could jump without a space suit, he could make a leap over 10 meters (33 feet) high. This is because there is very little gravity on the Moon.
People living thousands of year ago were very puzzled that the moon changed shaped each night. They believed it rode across the sky in a boat and was slowly swallowed by a gaint snake.
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