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|The Moon is currently receding from the Earth at 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) per year<ref>NASA [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/ApolloLaser.html]</ref>. The Moon could never have been closer than about 11,000 miles or it would have been broken up by tidal forces. If the rate of recession were stayed constant at 3.8 cm per year, it would take 9.6 billion years for the lunar distance to recess from 11,000 miles to the present distance of about 240,000 miles.  However, the tidal torque between Earth and the Moon would not be constant if the [[continental drift|continents drift]], and it also depends on the distance between the Earth and Moon and other factors, so a simple linear extrapolation is not valid.{{fact}}

|The Moon currently recedes from the Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) per year<ref>NASA [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/ApolloLaser.html]</ref>. The Moon could never have been closer than about 11,000 miles or it would have been broken up by tidal forces. If the rate of recession were stayed constant at 3.8 cm per year, it would take 9.6 billion years for the lunar distance to recess from 11,000 miles to the present distance of about 240,000 miles.  However, the tidal torque between Earth and the Moon would not be constant if the [[continental drift|continents drift]], and it also depends on the distance between the Earth and Moon and other factors, so a simple linear extrapolation is not valid.{{fact}}

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