As to the search for evolved life beyond the earth, the moon landings have made it clear that nothing even remotely resembling life has been found. Microscopic studies were made to try to find any living, previously living, or fossil material. None were found on the moon.

Have you wondered about the moon’s age? Rocks taken from the early Apollo missions were estimated at from 3.3 to 3.7 billion years in age. However, one lemon-size rock was estimated to have an age of 4.6 billion years. The moon’s soil was estimated at being from 4.2 to 4.9 billion years in age. Thus Science World of February 16, 1970, commented: “Several researchers confirmed that the moon is about 4.6 billion years old. The Earth and meteorites are about the same age.”

So it is now generally agreed that the moon’s age is the same as that of the entire solar system, including the earth. This is a noteworthy confirmation of the Bible account at Genesis 2:4, which indicates that the earth and the heavens were formed in the same general period of time.

Since the moon is no mere simple “blob,” what about the widespread theory that the moon originally shot out from the upper surfaces of the earth? A recent scientific report says: “The idea that the moon was torn from the upper layers of the earth has virtually died as a consequence of the Apollo findings.”​—New York Times, December 4, 1972.

As for the moon’s composition, the Apollo 16 mission found that the moon material is rich in aluminum and calcium. Metallic iron was present in the moon rocks. The Apollo 11 rock samples disclosed sixty-eight of the known elements. Moon rocks are composed of essentially the same raw materials as are earth rocks. However, there is a difference​—in proportion.

For instance, in moon rocks the ratio of uranium to potassium was found to be four times as high as in typical earth rocks. Titanium was found to be more than twice as common in moon rocks as in the most titanium-rich earth rocks. Not the elements themselves but the combinations of elements found in the moon rocks were indeed “unearthly.” As one lunar scientist put it: “It’s the same alphabet but a different grammar.”