1. When Neil Armstrong took that first step and said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" it would not have occurred to anyone that the step he took in the dust of the moon was there to stay. It will be there for millions of years because there is no wind on the moon. That is, assuming the downdraft from the Command Module upon takeoff back into space didn't destroy the print. Buzz Aldrin reportedly saw the American flag blow over during launch. Nevertheless, any footprints made by the famous astronauts undisturbed by takeoff are actually there to stay.
2. The moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the Earth.
3. The surface area of the moon is around 38 million square km (14,658,000 square miles).
4. Only 59% of the moon's surface is visible from earth.
5. We all know there was a man on the moon, but did you know that there is one who stayed there? Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, a Geological Surveyor, who educated the Apollo mission astronauts about craters, never made it into space himself, but it had always been one of his dreams. He was rejected as an astronaut because of medical problems. After he died, his ashes were placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft on January 6, 1999, which was crashed into a crater on the moon on July 31, 1999. The mission was to discover if there was water on the moon at the time, but it also served to fulfill Dr Shoemaker's last wish.
6. The moon's diameter is about 1/4 the diameter of the Earth. About 49 moons would fit inside the Earth.
7. The moon rotates at 16 kph (10 mph) compared to the earth's rotation of 1000 miles per hour.
8. When a month has two full moons, the second full moon is called a blue moon. Another definition of a blue moon is the third full moon in any season (quarter of year) containing 4 total full moons.
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