Earth from lunar orbit, artwork. This view is similar to the ones seen by the Apollo astronauts as they orbited the Moon. The Moon-Earth distance is some 384,000 kilometres, and the Earth's diameter is 12,742 kilometres. Unlike the Earth, the Moon is an airless, barren world of rock, with extremes of day and night temperatures, harsh sunlight and deep shadows. Here, the Earth globe is centred on Asia.