Categories: EarthMoon

How the Moon Would Look if it Were at the Same Distance as the Space Station

The International Space Station transiting the Moon as captured by Mike Weasner from Cassiopeia Observatory in Arizona.

This is completely impossible, but fun just the same. How would the Moon look from Earth if it orbited at just 420 km above our planet, which is the same orbital distance as the International Space Station? Here, for the sake of fun, we’re disregarding the Roche Limit and how a body as large as the Moon being that close would completely disrupt so many things on our planet. Plus, as people discussing this on Google+ said, it would be horrible for astrophotography!

Check out more videos by this same person, which include a size comparison of the planets and how the Moon would look if it were replaced with some of the planets in our Solar System.

For an interesting comparison, here’s an image of the ISS crossing in front of the Moon:

Remove All Ads on Universe Today

Join our Patreon for as little as $3!

Get the ad-free experience for life

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/