Both the Moon’s prominence

Both the Moon’s prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases have provided cultural references and influences for human societies throughout history. Such influences can be found in language, calendar systems, art, and mythology. The first artificial object to reach the Moon was the Soviet Union’s Luna 2 uncrewed spacecraft in 1959; this was followed by the first successful soft landing by Luna 9 in 1966. The only human lunar missions to date have been those of the United States’ Apollo program, which landed twelve men on the surface between 1969 and 1972. These and later uncrewed missions returned lunar rocks that have been used to develop a detailed geological understanding of the Moon’s origins, internal structure, and subsequent history.

Contents
1 Name and etymology
2 Formation
3 Physical characteristics
3.1 Internal structure
3.1.1 Magnetic field
3.2 Surface geology
3.2.1 Volcanic features
3.2.2 Impact craters
3.2.3 Gravitational field
3.2.4 Lunar swirls
3.2.5 Presence of water
3.3 Surface conditions
3.3.1 Atmosphere
3.3.2 Dust
4 Earth–Moon system
4.1 Lunar distance
4.2 Orbit
4.3 Relative size
4.4 Appearance from Earth
4.4.1 Eclipses
4.5 Tidal effects
5 Observation and exploration
5.1 Before spaceflight
5.2 1959–1970s
5.2.1 Soviet missions
5.2.2 United States missions
5.3 1970s – present
5.4 Future
5.4.1 Planned commercial missions
6 Human presence
6.1 Human impact
6.2 Infrastructure
6.3 Astronomy from the Moon
6.4 Living on the Moon
7 Legal status
7.1 Coordination
8 In culture and life
8.1 Mythology
8.2 Calendar
8.3 Lunar effect
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
11.1 Citations
12 Further reading
13 External links
13.1 Cartographic resources
13.2 Observation tools
13.3 General
Name and etymology
See also: List of lunar deities
The usual English proper name for Earth’s natural satellite is simply the Moon, with a capital M.[18][19] The noun moon is derived from Old English mōna, which (like all its Germanic cognates) stems from Proto-Germanic *mēnōn,[20] which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *mēnsis “month”[21] (from earlier *mēnōt, genitive *mēneses) which may be related to the verb “measure” (of time).[22]