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Is the Moon Really Made of Cheese? by Carla Gajewskey and Maps by Carla Gajewskey

1. What a tasty treat it would be if the Moon was made of cheese. Sadly, the Moon is not made from cheese but from rocks.

2. Scientists believe that 4.5 billion years ago, a large object hit the Earth. Rocks flew out everywhere from this and orbited the Earth. The rocks melted together and then cooled down. For billions of years after that, rocks kept hitting the Moon. This caused big pits on the surface of the Moon. From Earth, these big holes look like a face. This is where the saying, "The man on the moon," comes from.

3. Earth has an atmosphere. This Atmosphere is a layer of gas that surrounds a planet. This is why we have oxygen to breathe. The Moon does not have an atmosphere. This is why astronauts have to wear spacesuits and helmets. It protects them and provides oxygen that the Moon does not have.

4. You may wonder why the Moon is bright like a star if it is just made of rock. The Moon looks bright because the sunlight reflects off of the Moon. This makes it look like the Moon is lit up. As the Moon goes around the Earth, we see the sunlit part of the Moon. That is why you see the Moon go from a banana shape, also known as a crescent, to a full moon and back to a crescent in a month's time. These shapes are called the phases of the Moon. The Moon is more than a pretty lit up rock in the sky. The gravity of the Moon pulls at the Earth. This pull causes two high tides on the Earth every day.

5. The Moon has been of interest to people since the beginning of their being. It wasn't till the 1600s that a man by the name of Galileo made maps of the Moon. Galileo never walked on the Moon but used a telescope. He developed a telescope that could make objects look bigger up to 20 times. He was able to see the surface of the Moon. This was only the beginning.

6. As time went on, those maps would be used to explore the Moon. The first person to walk on the Moon was Neil Armstrong. On July 21, 1969, his spacecraft, the Eagle, landed on the Moon. He then did what many people only dream of doing. He set foot on the Moon. He wore a huge space suit and a space mask. He had to wear this because the Moon was airless, waterless, and lifeless. He then said these famous words, "That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." These words are used to this day. They are a reminder of how far we have come and how far we will go.