By Will Dunham WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The moon is, to put it mildly, an inhospitable place for people and other living organisms from Earth, with its lack of breathable air, extreme temperatures and exposure to relentless space radiation and energetic particles.

Unlike the recent solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse can be watched safely with the naked eye. Binoculars or a small telescope may provide a closer look at Earth’s curved shadow as it moves across the moon.

The upper stage of the rocket hit near the Einstein Crater on the western side of the moon, which is difficult to see from Earth’s surface. If you had been watching, it was more likely that you would have seen the giant plume of moon dust after the fact than the actual impact.

As of Saturday, Aug. 22, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon is in its Waxing Gibbous phase, with 70% of its surface visible.

NASA scientists studied how five Earth microbes might fare on the Moon, including one that already survives outside the International Space Station.

The Moon becomes brighter every evening as it approaches the Full Moon. On August 21, it is going to be a Waxing Gibbous Moon, meaning that much of the Moon will be illuminated. The Full Moon is on August 28 and hence,

International Observe the Moon Night on Sept. 19 connects local residents with a worldwide celebration of the moon.

A defunct part of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the moon uncontrolled this month at an estimated 5,400 mph. Now NASA has photos.

India marks National Space Day 2026 on the third anniversary of Chandrayaan-3’s historic Moon landing, while Gaganyaan and plans for an Indian space station shape the country’s next chapter in space exploration.

NASA’s Moon Trees preserve a piece of Apollo history, with a new generation of seeds also traveling around the Moon in 2022.

In its most technologically complex lunar mission to date, China aims to search for frozen stores of water in shadowed craters near the moon’s south pole.