20th July: International Moon Day

The United Nations declared 20 July as International Moon Day through resolution 76/76 on “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space” in 2021

This new international day aims to commemorate the anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon as part of the Apolo 11 mission, as well as celebrating the achievements of all States in moon exploration and raising public awareness about the exploration and sustainable use of the Moon.

The first contact of men with the Moon

Space exploration has conquered new frontiers in the cosmos. One of them is the moon, through the first moon landing carried out by humans with the apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969

It was the fifth manned mission of the United States Apollo Program, being the first mission to get a human to the moon .

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the lunar surface, specifically south of the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquilitatis).

As a curious and interesting element, the Sea of Tranquility is an extensive lunar mare of 873 kilometers, whose name was given in 1651 by the Jesuit astronomers Francesco Grimaldi and Giovanni Battista Riccioli.

The astronauts began the exploration of the Moon, making a two-hour journey. They collected 22 kilograms of soil and lunar rock simples, and installed scientific instruments for detecting earthquakes, solar particles and a laser reflector.

The dark side of the moon

Since time immemorial. The moon has been the object of fascination, mistery and source of inspiration for humanity. This natural satellite of the Earth, visible in our night sky, has two faces: the visible, bathed in sunlight, and its mysterious “dark side”, which we never see from our planet.

This phenomenon is due to the synchronization between the periods of rotation and translation of the Moon around the Earth, a phenomenon known as synchronous rotation. This synchronization makes us always see the same face of the Moon, while its “dark side” remains hidden from view.

The term “dark side” of the Moon is actually a misunderstanding. This side of the Moon is not permanently in the dark. It receives sunlight during the new moon phase, when the face visible from Earth is in shadows. However, the term has captured the popular imagination, feeding numerous myths and legends, and even serving as inspiration for music.