Bailey--the+Moon

The Moon Bailey Morris Rainer Language Arts – 2nd Period November 11, 2010

  The Moon How many people know that the Moon used to be about the size of Mars? It crashed into Earth before Earth was even a solid. The rouge space debris destroyed the outer most layer of the Earth at the time (Star Child Team). Scientists believe that it struck with more force than the meteor that they say wiped out the dinosaurs. This enormous chunk of space rock became what we call today, the Moon, and it is important to humans in ways other than science. ** __ Importance  __ ** The Moon is more important than most people realize. In the Eastern worlds the Moon is the primary consideration in astrology (Elmo). The astrologers consider the Moon to be one of the three most essential elements in astrology (Brents). Also in astrology the moon represents ones emotions, your inner self, your instincts, and reactions (Brents). ** __ History  __ ** The Moon ran into the Earth some 4.5 million years ago during the early years of our universe. The Moon used to be about the size of Mars when it began (Davis). Then it crashed into the Earth with the biggest force ever that vaporized the object (Davis). After it crashed into the Earth and got vaporized one of the chunks got caught in Earth’s atmosphere forming the Moon (Davis). Ever since the Moon was formed man has seen it as an important object. One of the ways it was important was in early civilizations of man such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The Moon was involved in various early mythologies where the Moon represented a god. Even now the moon also tells the right growing seasons. There were six manned flights to the moon which occurred between 1969 and 1972. All flights were made in Apollo spacecraft which were smaller than the shuttles used by NASA today. It is very expensive and difficult to send spacecraft to the Moon which is one reason we have not been back since 1972. (NASA) 1   ** __  Present  __ ** Today Google is sponsoring a space competition that calls for privately-funded teams to compete in launching, landing, and traveling across the Moon’s surface with a robot. The competitors must also transmit high-def video and images back to Earth. The first place team will win $20 million grand prize, and the second place team will earn $5 million. The prize money expires at the end of 2015 or when all prizes have been claimed. This is to encourage the teams to complete their missions as quickly as possible (Google Lunar X). ** __ Future __ ** The future of the Moon actually is pretty exciting, but not truly decided yet. In the future we plan on establishing a base on the Moon. It would be used for being able to get further into space. With the Moon’s lesser gravity, it will make launching a rocket much easier. America hopes to have the base built by 2020. ** __ Conclusion  __ ** In conclusion the Moon’s importance may have changed over the years in terms of how we see it, but it is still very important to mankind. Also the moon has definitely changed over the years in terms of both size and shape. It once was about the size of the Mars, but now after it ran into the Earth it is the size it is now. Unfortunately, America doesn’t appear as interested in space as it once was especially with NASA receiving funding cuts. Hopefully, the future of the Moon will be an exciting one as we race to see who can get there again and to see who can build the first base on the Moon. 2     **  Works Cited  ** Google Lunar X Prize. [|www.googlelunarxprize.org], 2010 NASA. [], 2010 Davis, Don. The Moon, 2010