Lunar astronauts used seismographs on their visits to the Moon, and found that small moonquakes occurred several kilometres beneath the surface, causing ruptures and cracks. These are caused by the gravitational pull of the Earth. The lack of atmosphere means no sound can be heard on the Moon, and the sky always appears black. This means that the surface of the Moon is unprotected from cosmic rays, meteorites and solar winds, and has huge temperature variations. Since then the Moon has only be visited by unmanned vehicles. The first man to set foot on the Moon in 1969 was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission, while the last man to walk on the Moon in 1972 was Gene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission. The Moon has only been walked on by 12 people all American men.This is why the lunar astronauts could leap and bound so high in the air. The Moon has much weaker gravity than Earth, due to its smaller mass, so you would weigh about one sixth (16.5%) of your weight on Earth. A person would weigh much less on the Moon.By the time that happens, the Moon will be taking around 47 days to orbit the Earth instead of the current 27.3 days. It is estimated that it will continue to do so for around 50 billion years.

The Moon is moving approximately 3.8 cm away from our planet every year.

The Moon is drifting away from the Earth.

There are two bulges in the Earth due to the gravitational pull that the Moon exerts one on the side facing the Moon, and the other on the opposite side that faces away from the Moon, The bulges move around the oceans as the Earth rotates, causing high and low tides around the globe.

The rise and fall of the tides on Earth is caused by the Moon.

The side facing away from Earth has only been seen by the human eye from spacecraft. This is because the Moon rotates around on its own axis in exactly the same time it takes to orbit the Earth, meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. In reality both sides of the Moon see the same amount of sunlight however only one face of the Moon is ever seen from Earth. Moon size compared to the Earth Facts about the Moon

Different colors walk the moon album