The Incredible Journey from Earth to the Moon

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered how far the moon is from us? It’s much farther than you might think! The average distance from Earth to the moon is an incredible 238,855 miles. To give you a better idea of just how far that is, let's compare it to some things you might be familiar with.

A Size Comparison

Let's imagine the Earth and Moon were a lot smaller. If we could shrink the distance from Earth to the Moon down to just one meter, Earth would be the size of a quarter, and the Moon would be the size of a pea.

• Driving a car: If you were to hop in a car and drive non-stop at 60 miles per hour, it would take you about 166 days to reach the Moon. That's longer than an entire summer vacation!
• Flying in an airplane: If you flew in an airplane at 550 miles per hour, it would still take you over two weeks of non-stop flying to reach the Moon.
• Around the Earth: The Earth's circumference, or the distance all the way around the planet, is 24,901 miles. This means you could fit nearly ten Earths in the distance between Earth and the Moon!

The Moon's Orbit

Now let's talk about why the Moon's distance from Earth changes. The Moon doesn't orbit Earth in a perfect circle. Instead, it follows an elliptical, or egg-shaped, path. This means that sometimes the Moon is closer to Earth, and sometimes it's farther away.

• When the Moon is at its closest point to Earth, called perigee, it's about 225,623 miles away.
• When it's at its farthest point, called apogee, it's about 252,088 miles away. But on average, the distance is 238,855 miles, which is the number we usually use when we talk about the distance from Earth to the Moon.

The Apollo Missions

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, NASA's Apollo missions sent humans to the Moon for the very first time. These brave astronauts traveled the 238,855 miles to the Moon in a spaceship.

• The journey took about three days each way. That's like spending an entire long weekend traveling!
• The farthest any human being has ever been from Earth is about 248,655 miles. This record was set by the astronauts of Apollo 13 during their round-the-moon mission.

In Conclusion

So the next time you look up at the Moon, remember just how far away it is. It's not just a hop, skip, and a jump away - it's a quarter of a million miles away! And yet, with the power of science and exploration, humans have managed to make the journey. Who knows what other incredible distances we'll travel in the future?