Exploration of the Moon Exploration of the Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes; having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his
Face on Moon South Pole Face on Moon South Pole The Face on Moon South Pole is a region on the Moon (81.9° south latitude and 39.27° east longitude) that was detected automatically in an image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter by a computer system using face recognition technologies, as a result of a project that was part of the International Space App Challenge 2013 Tokyo. It is composed of craters and shadows on the moon's surface that, together, form an image resembling a face. The "Face on Mars" is a better known example. Human brains have the ability to detect ambiguous images displayed upon