Author
Rebecca Boyle
Published
2024
First read
August 2025
A light, enjoyable popular science read about the moon. I didn’t get any deeper meaning from reading this, but I did takeaway some fun facts.
- With no water or wind on the moon there’s nothing to soften the edges of dust, which ends up harsh like sandpaper.
- Many Apollo astronauts fell flat on their face as they stepped onto the moon’s surface. It may be because the moon’s gravity (16.6% of Earth’s) is close to the threshold (15%) that humans require to know which way is up.
- NASA has a lab that ships samples of moon rocks to scientists. Since the rocks are irreplaceable they ship without any extra insurance or special label. And they often ship them out at the holidays when large, bulky packages attract less attention.
- That same NASA lab takes reverential care of the rocks. Astronauts photographed samples before collecting them and the lab keeps each rock in the same orientation it had come to rest in on the moon.
