Space has a knack for bending our sense of scale. The Moon feels close enough to touch—after all, we see its craters with nothing but our eyes. Yet, that 238,855-mile gap between Earth and its lunar ...

The Moon is getting 1½ inches (3.8 centimeters) farther away from the Earth every year. Scientists measure the distance to the Moon by bouncing lasers off mirrors placed there by space probes and ...