Have astronauts ever seen the dark side of the moon?

Question

I haven't looked it up yet but I thought I'd ask here since I'm a little short on time. Since only one side of the moon faces Earth, haven't scientists been able to get a rover with a flashlight or something on the side we can't see to take pictures of the landscape? How come we don't know what it looks like? Or do we..?

Answer 1

Leaving aside the usual pedantry about the difference between the dark side and the far side, the first pictures of the far side were taken by the Russian Luna 3 probe in 1959. Since then further Russian probes photogrpahed it. The Americans sent a series of probes called Lunar Orbiter to map the entire lunar surface, and they did a very good job of it. Later, of course, the Apollo astronauts orbited the Moon and got some very good pictures of the far side. No-one landed there because anything landing on the far side would be out of communication with Earth without a complicated satellite relay system. Fine for an unmanned probe, but not so good for astronauts.

Since the Apollo era further probes have visited the Moon and mapped its surface.

So, in answer to your question, yes astronauts have seen the far side of the moon (24 of them to be precise), and we do indeed know what it looks like in quite astounding detail.

Answer 2

You are probably thinking of the "far side" of the moon, which is often (incorrectly) called the "dark side." I don't know how that term got started, because the far side of the moon is not any darker than the near side--both get plenty of light! So no flashlight would be necessary.

Yes, astronauts have seen it. The first pictures were taken by an unmanned probe in the early 1960's (don't know exactly what year) as it circled the moon from space. The first time the far side was seen "in person" by human eyes, was in 1968, by the three crew members of the Apollo 8 mission, as they flew over it. Over the next four years or so, 24 more people in various Apollo missions flew over the far side. They took many detailed pictures, and additional unmanned probes have been sent since that time, and very detailed maps have been made and are available online.

No missions have ever LANDED on the far side, however. The main reason is that radio transmissions have to travel in a straight line, so the earth has to be in a "line of sight" with the people on the moon so we can communicate with them. (Some day we'll probably have communication satellites orbiting the moon so this won't be a problem.)

Answer 3

It's actually the "far side of the Moon."

The Moon is in a tidal lock with the Earth, so only one side faces us at all times. But all of the Moon experiences the monthly day--2 weeks in sunshine, 2 weeks in darkness, not just our side of the Moon.

Apollo astronauts orbited the Moon during all the missions that went to the Moon, including Apollo 13 (they looped around the Moon and came straight back after the explosion)

So yes, astronauts have seen the far side of the Moon and they took pictures. Check any good web site on Lunar pictures to see them.

Answer 4

A lunar "day" is about 29.5 Earth days long and guess what.

When the Sun is shining on the Moon and we only see a crescent shape, where do you think the rest of the light hitting the Moon is? On the side you don't get to see.

At that point, 80% to 90% of the "dark side" of the Moon is facing you. You need to get out your flashlight.

If we send a probe to the "other side" of the Moon to take pictures and collect data, how would you propose that the command and data radio signals from the probe reach Earth with the Moon in the way? Or vice versa? Can't bounce the signals off of Mars.

Answer 5

Every Apollo mission that reached the moon did orbit the moon. Thus the astronauts on board all saw the entire orb of the moon. They said it was smoother on the "dark" side of the moon too. For now they can't land there due to radio frequency, like light, not able to "bend" around the moons limb. Communication with the astronauts anywhere, any time is of the utmost importance. So the answer is YES.

Answer 6

I see you've already been schooled on the whole "dark side" of the moon deal.

Have you ever seen a thin crescent moon lit up in the sky and yet you can still see the rest of the moon? Well, guess what? That IS the "dark side" being illuminated by light reflected off the Earth...which is why it's called "Earthshine." The dark side of the moon does not always face away from the Earth.

Answer 7

Actually we have detailed maps of the entire surface of the moon including the hemisphere which faces away from the Earth.

The first probe to see the far side was the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 3 in 1959; the first men to see it with their own eyes were Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman as the crew of Apollo 8 in December 1968. Since then, the crews of all of the Apollo moon missions Apollo 10 and forward saw it, as have several additional unmanned lunar probes.

Hope that helps.

Answer 8

There is no 'dark side of the Moon'. All there is is a 'far side'. The other side gets just as much sunlight as the side facing the Earth does- in fact, it would get slightly MORE light on average due to eclipses! So the Moon does not have a 'dark side', and if it did then the near side would be the dark side.

Answer 9

There is no "dark side". A lunar day is ~14 terrestrial days, anywhere (the poles are obviously exceptions). Occupants of every Apollo capsule that orbited the moon saw both sides. We've had lunar satellites take photos.

The moon's rotation is tidally locked. When it was molten the loose stuff sloshed toward the Earth side to give maria. The rear side of the moon is terrifically craggy.

Answer 10

as someone else said there is no dark side of the moon, both sides get a roughly equal amount of sunlight. but the far side of the moon which we never see from earth has not been explored in person. all of the Apollo missions were on the side of the moon facing earth to make communications simpler. only flyover missions have seen the far side.