Key facts
- Mean diameter
- 3,474.8 km
- Mass
- 7.346 × 10^22 kg (0.0123 Earths)
- Surface gravity
- 1.62 m/s² (0.165 g)
- Escape velocity
- 2.38 km/s
- Mean temperature
- -20 °C
- Rotation period
- 655.7 hours
- Orbital period
- 27.3 days
- Mean distance from Earth
- 0.384 million km
Atmosphere
Essentially none: an extremely thin exosphere.
Composition and structure
Rocky body with a small iron core; highlands of anorthosite and basaltic maria.
Discovery and exploration
Luna 2 (1959) was the first spacecraft to reach it. Twelve astronauts walked on it during Apollo 11–17 (1969–72). Artemis II carried four astronauts around the Moon in April 2026, the first crewed lunar flight since 1972.