That means its Goldilocks zone is so close to it that the planet may be tidally locked, as the moon is to the Earth.
The problem NASA has faced is that since the Eagle landed on the moon and Apollo 11 returned safely to the earth the American people lost interest in our manned space program.
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According to Weidner, schoolchildren in the 1960s were taught that the distance from the Earth to the Moon was 237, 000 miles.
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As Laine explains in the video, an elevator from the surface of the Moon to a rendezvous point between the Earth and its satellite is actually possible using current technology.
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If all goes well, the next target will be L1, the point 85% of the way to the moon where the gravitational pulls of moon and Earth balance.
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The phases of the moon occur due to cycles among the moon, the earth and the sun.
The overall strength of the moon's gravity, as well as its differential (tidal) effect, is greatest when the moon is closest to the Earth, as on January 4, 1912.
But the size of the Earth is a few percent of the distance to the moon, which translates to about a 7% stronger gravitational pull on the near side of the Earth than the far side.
And the fact that the sun and moon were particularly close to the Earth at precisely the same time -- well, that made the tidal bulges even bigger.
In 2006, Stardust is scheduled to become the first spacecraft to return to Earth with material from beyond the moon.
If the 295 trillion megabytes (or, exabytes) of stored information were saved on CD-ROMs, the stack of CDs would stretch from the Earth to beyond the moon, according to Hilbert and Lopez.
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And f believe that you, the nation that had the vision to put a man on the moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet earth.
The television pictures on board were designed to begin operating when the rocket came within 2, 500 miles (4, 023km) of the lunar surface - 40 minutes before impact - and then send an image of the Moon back to Earth every 13 seconds.
My company, Moon Express, is focused on the next stage of commercial space beyond low Earth orbit, and is already developing early precursor robotic missions in partnership with NASA to explore the Moon and learn how to develop its resources for the benefit of life on Earth.
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In his version (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865, and its sequel, All Around the Moon, 1870), an aluminum craft launched from central Florida achieves a speed of 24, 500 miles per hour, circles the moon and splashes down in the Pacific.
Dr Amy Mainzer, principal investigator on the Neowise (Near-Earth Wise observations) project at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in California, said that "estimating the ages and origins of the asteroids should help us to correlate events on Earth and impact craters on the Moon with what is going on in the Solar System".
That's why President Kennedy pointed us to the moon, knowing that the exploration of the skies above would lead to unimagined discoveries here on Earth.
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But now, countries are exploring the moon because they believe it can be exploited and used to support the Earth's development.
Somebody once said that if you went to the moon and looked down at Earth, you would see two countries: the United States and Iran.
Certainly it claims it wishes, like President John Kennedy 50 years ago, to send people to the surface of the moon and return them safely to Earth.
The moon will have gone (atmospheric drag will cause it to crash into the earth).
The modular tin cans that took us to the moon and back, and have kept us in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) ever since, will eventually be superceded by full-scale space cities.
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After that, during this five year period China also plans to send a rover to the Moon, collect samples, and then return to Earth.
The other way of doing things is for the company to retrieve smaller asteroids, put them into orbit around Earth or the moon, and then dissect them at its leisure.
The Moon's steady gravitational influence keeps the Earth spinning at the right speed and angle to provide the sort of stability necessary for the long and successful development of life.
" Even the barren Moon is essential: "Without the Moon's steadying influence, the Earth would wobble like a dying top.... The Moon's steady gravitational influence keeps the Earth spinning at the right speed and angle to provide the sort of stability necessary for the long and successful development of life.
And after the Soviet launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, the United States went about winning the Space Race by investing in science and technology, leading not only to small steps on the moon but also to tremendous economic benefits here on Earth.
Just as with Apollo, any modern venture would need some kind of CSM element for the astronauts, together with a departure stage - a propulsion unit that could accelerate the astronauts' vehicle out of low-Earth orbit, putting it on a path to the Moon.
Clementine's radio beam was bounced off the moon to a receiving dish on earth.
The most recent Russian probe, which was launched to the Mars moon Phobos last November, never made it out of Earth orbit.
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