subject 07 a presentation of the moon

subject 07

a presentation of the moon

The Moon is an earth satellite orbiting our planet from a distance of 384,000kms on average, and its orbit is in a west-to-east direction. Its surface gravity is only 0.16 that of the Earth (one sixth), and it does not seem to have life on it, since it has neither atmosphere nor water. Minimum and maximum temperatures on it are wide apart, with +110˚C on the sunlit side and –170˚C in lunar nights. The geology of this satellite is rock only, and its age is about 4,6 billion years.
Plans to reach the Moon on space crafts have been on scientists’ minds since early 20th century. But they became more concrete when the Russians launched space crafts Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 in 1957, the second one carrying dog Laika. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth, followed by the American astronaut John Glenn in 1962. Finally, America won the honour of reaching the Moon before Russia, when Neil Armstrong set foot on it on July 21st 1969.
There are at present plans to build a space base on the Moon, to set a giant telescope and launch space ships from there to distant planets, and perhaps to other solar systems.