The Moon The Moon — sometimes Luna — was Earth ' s largest and only natural satellite . Its mass and gravitic relationship to Earth meant that it had a profound impact on ocean tide s , and thus on Earth ' s weather , generally . It was the first extraterrestrial body on which human kind landed — outside of the times the Doctor or other aliens took individuals on special trips — and was the location of any number of colonies and space stations — perhaps most famously the so - called Moonbase itself . It was sometimes invaded by alien species , such as the Judoon . ( TV : " Smith and Jones " ) On other occasions , it was used as a base from which to " thwart " alien invasions , like those by the Cybermen , ( TV : " The Moonbase " ) Ice Warrior s ( TV : " The Seeds of Death " ) and the Silent s . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) But , unbeknownst to most humans who lived on Earth until the year 2049 , it was " itself " an alien species — the embryonic form of a gigantic , draconian creature — ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) described by Alice O ' Donnell , a native of the year 2119 , as a " big bat " . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) Its hatching caused what astronaut Lundvik described as the worst natural disaster in Earth ' s history . Tides swelled , consuming whole cites . Then , after the creature hatched , it laid a new egg — a " new moon " — which seemed very like the one that it had replaced . Accordingly , unlike many other moons circling many other worlds , Earth ' s moon wasn ' t comprised of rocks or substantial mineral deposits , according to the Twelfth Doctor ' s understanding of a Mexican geological survey . Nor was it even a singular entity . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) That said , the Twelfth Doctor ' s understanding of the true nature of the moon in 2049 was not apparently known or shared by others throughout the course of Earth ' s history . Various other accounts were known to exist which appeared to contradict the Time Lord ' s findings . Iris Wildthyme owned a house on the Moon . ( AUDIO : " Dark Side " ) History . Early history . According to one account , around 100 , 000 , 000 BC , an alien species laid a gigantic egg which began orbiting the Earth . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Another account stated that the Moon originated from outside of the solar system ; it was originally the moon of the Cthalctose homeworld around 60 , 000 , 000 BC . At that time it housed the Genesis of Cthalctose which was designed to terraform alien worlds ( such as , in the future , Earth ) into an environment capable of supporting their species . ( PROSE : " Eternity Weeps " ) Another account stated that the Moon was formed from the remains of Theia when it collided with Earth . ( PROSE : " Moon Blink " ) The Silurian s went into hibernation because of the appearance of a " small planet " near Earth , the Silurian home planet , which their scientists calculated would draw off Earth ' s atmosphere , wiping out " all life " . The Third Doctor concluded that this referred to the Moon , and realised that instead of drawing off the atmosphere , the Moon was captured in Earth ' s orbit . ( TV : " Doctor Who and the Silurians " ) The Third Doctor repeated the claim to Marc Marshall that the Silurians built the shelters when they thought the planet would " suck away " Earth ' s atmosphere as it rushed by . ( PROSE : " The Scales of Injustice " ) Conversely , the Fifth Doctor recalled that the Silurian astronomers predicted that Earth was about to be " struck " by the planet at the time , ( PROSE : " Warriors of the Deep " ) and the Eleventh Doctor described the trajectory of the planet the astronomers had predicted as a " crash course " . ( TV : " Cold Blood " ) The sudden arrival of the Moon between Earth and Mondas also upset the gravitational equilibrium of Mondas , causing it to escape its orbit and drift through space . ( AUDIO : " Spare Parts " ) While the life forms on the surface of Earth did not suffocate from a lack of air as predicted , the gravitational force of the Moon created huge tidal wave s , caused the eruption of volcano es , made earthquake s bring mountain ranges down , and caused cyclone s to rage . Millions of humanity ' s ape ancestors drowned or were blown into rocks by the winds , but some survived and multiplied . According to this account , the Silurians first saw the Moon two years before it reached Earth . ( PROSE : " Doctor Who and the Cave - Monsters " ) However , according to another account , the Moon was already in orbit around the Earth circa 450 million BC . Around this time , the Archaeon s used caverns beneath the Moon to house vivarium s . They seeded the Earth by firing red lightning from this cavern at the Earth , which already had the potential for life , but the lightning caused the " spark " to be engendered , and the vivariums were used to nurture the Earth under controlled conditions . The Archaeons , along with the First Doctor , Susan and Quadrigger Stoyn , were trapped in a stasis field when they tried taking the temporal stasis capacitor from the TARDIS . This account also suggested that only basic primitive life existed on the Earth . The Archaeons at the very least considered the evolution of humans to be an end result of their " experiment " . ( AUDIO : " The Beginning " ) After the Millennium War of 150 million BC , one of the few remnants of the Constructors of Destiny was the Midnight Cathedral on the dark side of the Moon . ( PROSE : " The Quantum Archangel " ) 16th century . In 1590 , the Moon had Earth - normal gravity , an atmosphere , water , plant s , animal s and was inhabited by the Lunaries . That year , they invited ambassador s from every capital city in Europe to the Moon to decide with which nation they would form an alliance . The English delegation was transported by Iris Wildthyme in her TARDIS , while the other nations used their own spaceship s . Iris ' companion Tom was very confused by the seeming impossibility of it all , as he knew that the Moon in his time was a dead world , but Iris showed little concern and just accepted it . ( PROSE : " Minions of the Moon " ) 19th century . In 1872 , the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown visited the Mare Nectaris on the Moon , where they found a Kaveetch beacon . ( AUDIO : " The First Sontarans " ) In 1878 , as Queen Victoria watched , three British spacecraft - the " Cygnus " , the " Draco " and the " Lynx " - were launched in secret from rural Scotland . The subsequent expedition to the dark side of the moon resulted in the discovery of a lunar park erected by an unknown alien civilisation for the purpose of hunting . During the expedition ' s efforts to rescue their missing commander - aided by the Fifth Doctor , Turlough and ( secretly ) Kamelion - the park was destroyed after the death of the park ' s Warden . The last surviving inhabitants of the Park were the ruthless Vrall , who tricked the humans into bringing them to Earth only to subsequently be destroyed by the Doctor and his companions using weapons salvaged from the park . After Kamelion visited Victoria in disguise as Prince Albert , Victoria was convinced to end the British Imperial Spacefleet due to the potential dangers of space travel , the Doctor having concluded that Victorian mentality was ill - suited for the pressures of space travel at this time . ( PROSE : " Imperial Moon " ) Strax claimed that he had " declared war on the Moon , " asserting that it had gone unsuspected long enough to gain " an enormous tactical advantage , " and that striking now would catch the " Moonites " off guard , though Jenny Flint claimed there was " no one living there . " ( TV : " The Great Detective " ) 20th century . Early 20th century . The Dalek flying saucer was hidden on the dark side of the moon in 1941 . ( TV : " Victory of the Daleks " ) Circa 1959 , a species landed on the Moon and sent a transmission to Earth . They requested a meeting with the humans so they could share technology . The American government intercepted the transmission and started NASA ' s moon project to meet them . ( PROSE : " Blue Moon " ) In the 1960s , the United States government built a on the far side of the Moon using alien technology . It was named after former U . S . President Dwight D . Eisenhower . The moonbase was designed to contain a viable minimum population . In the event of a nuclear war , the plan was for its inhabitants to eventually return to Earth and rebuild human civilisation . It was destroyed by the Sixth Doctor on 23 November 1963 . ( AUDIO : " " ) In 1966 , Igrix intended to destroy the Moon . ( COMIC : " The Love Invasion " ) The " Apollo 11 " landing . According to most historical accounts , humans officially first set foot on the Moon on 20 July 1969 . ( PROSE : " Blue Moon " ) Following the Apollo landing . Contradicting this , one account shows three human astronaut s landing on the Moon on 20 July 1970 , apparently for the first time . They spotted the TARDIS . ( COMIC : " Moon Landing " ) At some point after 1969 , the Tenth Doctor intended to take Rose Tyler to the Moon , making her , unofficially , the first human female to set foot there , but this plan went awry . ( PROSE : " I Am a Dalek " ) According to one account , Moon landings became routine in a fairly short while . ( PROSE : " Soldiers from Zolta " ) In the 1970s , the newly - regenerated Fourth Doctor intended to bring Harry Sullivan to the Moon , to prove to him that the TARDIS could travel in space . Instead , because of Harry ' s " messing around with the helmic regulator , " they ended up on the Ark , millennia ahead of his intended destination . ( TV : " The Ark in Space " ) Later 20th century . By the late 20th century , the Cybermen had established a base on the Dark Side of the Moon . The base served as the staging area for a fleet poised to invade Earth . It also could fire missiles at approaching craft , such as the Doctor ' s TARDIS , which briefly materialised in space nearby . ( TV : " The Invasion " ) In 1971 , a Dalek craft landed on the Moon and captured several humans . Jeff Stone saw the remains of the craft in a museum in the Dalek capital city on Skaro in 2400 . ( COMIC : " City of the Daleks " ) In the 1970s , the Daleks established a base on the Moon and contacted Professor Pillbright . They offered him use of their disintegrator weapon in exchange for his servitude . The Third Doctor went to the Moon and destroyed their base with a neutron bomb . ( COMIC : " The Disintegrator " ) This base or another still existed in 1985 . ( TV : " Attack of the Cybermen " ) In 1988 , the Cyber - Fleet orbited the Moon and waited for the Cyber - Leader , already on Earth , to acquire the Nemesis so the Fleet could land , conquer Earth and convert the planet into New Mondas . The Nemesis , sent to rendezvous with the Fleet , exploded and destroyed the entire fleet . ( TV : " Silver Nemesis " ) In 1986 , an Earth expedition visited the Moon where they encountered an early version of the Cybermen . ( TV : " The Tenth Planet " ) In 1992 , the Timewyrm created a replica of Victorian - era Cheldon Bonniface on the Moon to trap the Seventh Doctor . ( PROSE : " " ) 21st century . 2000s . In the 21st century , the Moon was considered neutral ground under galactic law . This meant if law - enforcement agents such as the Judoon , who would have broken galactic law to conduct their affairs on Earth , had free rein to do so on its satellite . Accordingly , the Royal Hope Hospital was transported from London to the Moon with an HO scoop by Judoon searching for a Plasmavore murderer . ( TV : " Smith and Jones " ) In 2008 the Moon nearly collided with the Earth as part of Mr Smith ' s plan to destroy Earth using Luke Smith , whose natural power of telekinesis a device named MITRE had amplified . Earth ' s weather was affected worldwide . However , with Mr Smith " reprogrammed " by a computer virus , the moon slowly went back . ( TV : " The Lost Boy " ) The movement of the Moon caused the Earth ' s the Moon ' s and the Sun ' s orbits to be in a mess . Clyde Langer and Mr Smith had to set the orbits right and do so shortly afterwards . ( GAME : " Earth , Sun and Moon " ) The following year , in 2009 , Earth was relocated to the Medusa Cascade by the Dalek s . The Moon remained behind , though somehow maintaining its position until Earth was returned . It then resumed orbiting Earth . ( TV : " The Stolen Earth " / " Journey ' s End " ) The Eleventh Doctor first travelled with his newly regenerated TARDIS on the Moon . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Human colonisation of the Moon . According to Greta , the first lunar colony was Giant Leap Base . Some time after its construction , Dr Maguire discovered the stasis field and the Archaeon cavern , unfreezing the First Doctor , Susan , Stoyn and the Archaeons from time . The Archaeons considered their seeding of the planet a failure ; they discovered their idea of order and formal beauty was disrupted , and felt that life had run " rampant " through their " garden " . They attempted to " purge " all life from the planet and on the Moon with their cannon . The humans struck back with missile s which destroyed the cannon and breached the atmosphere of the cavern . The Archaeons were pulled into the vacuum and the First Doctor and Susan left Stoyn behind as they escaped in the TARDIS . ( AUDIO : " The Beginning " ) At some point , a group of scientists established a quantum tunnel linking Base Diana , a secret military base on the moon with part of the Nevada Desert . This base was being used to carry out mind experiments on dangerous criminals . ( PROSE : " Apollo 23 " ) By 2010 , there was a Moonbase operated by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce . Dr . Shaw was stationed here at the time . ( TV : " Death of the Doctor " ) By 7 June 2015 , when the Fifth Doctor and Turlough visited it , humans had established Moon Village One . While there , they stopped a pair of Dryrth criminals looking for treasure left on the Moon by their people . ( COMIC : " The Lunar Strangers " ) In 2021 , the Seventh Doctor noted that the Moon was " pretty much [ run ] " by China . ( AUDIO : " The Harvest " ) In 2039 the crew of Minera Luna San Pedro , a Mexican moonbase , founded to search for minerals , disappeared . By the year 2049 , giant vicious red and black spider - like creatures with sharp teeth inhabited the Moon , living in the caves on the surface and killing every innocent astronaut visiting the Moon , and covering moonbases in web . The Twelfth Doctor , Clara Oswald , Courtney Woods and Lundvik discovered these creatures on a mission to find out why the gravity had increased , with Courtney managing to kill one . They were connected to the organism that been growing for millions of years inside the Moon , which hatched soon after . It laid another egg , which replaced the original Moon . The original moon then flew off to roam all of space . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) To the general populace of Earth , this event would be , in the words of 2119 native Alice O ' Donnell , remembered as the time when " the Moon [ exploded ] and the big bat [ came ] out " . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) The Moon ' s egg / child . Later 21st century . In 2050 , the tenth German moon mission took place . ( TV : " The Waters of Mars " ) Some time before the Bowie Base One mission in 2058 , the notable space pioneer , Adelaide Brooke , became the first female Briton to land on the Moon . ( TV : " The Waters of Mars " ) Since the 2050s , a Moonbase housed the Gravitron , a machine that regulated Earth ' s weather . In 2070 , Cybermen tried to invade and control it . ( TV : " The Moonbase " ) This base was later refurbished as the central T - Mat relay , co - ordinating T - Mat on Earth . A T - Mat link enabled a person to travel from Earth to the Moon in seconds , until a group of Ice Warrior s decided to sabotage the relay . ( TV : " The Seeds of Death " ) In 2094 , the Eighth Doctor and Fitz Kreiner visited the Moon . ( PROSE : " Growing Higher " ) 22nd century . By 2144 , the Iceland ic government had established a lunar colony where they shipped their criminals . Inspector Jill Sveinsdóttir almost sentenced the Fifth Doctor and Vislor Turlough to a 30 year sentence on the lunar colony when she believed them to be responsible for a series of murders committed by the Bratanian Shroud . ( AUDIO : " Repeat Offender " ) From the 2160s to the late 2190s , many humans were left on the moon without access to the Earth due to the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth . Susan Campbell and , to a lesser extent , her son Alex were a part of several official public functions involving the return of the stranded colonists . ( AUDIO : " An Earthly Child " , " Quinnis " ) Later history . In 2367 , the Eleventh Doctor implied that there were several species living on the Moon . ( TV : " Dinosaurs on a Spaceship " ) In 2400 , the Dalek s blocked the Moon ' s scanners to prevent their invasion of the solar system from being detected . ( COMIC : " Invasion of the Daleks " ) After the invasion was defeated , a group of Daleks planned to use their Megla - Ray and the old nuclear bomb s dumped on the Moon to destroy Earth , but were defeated by Jeff , Andy and Mary Stone . ( COMIC : " Battle for the Moon " ) By 2540 , the Moon served as a penal colony for dissidents against the war between the Earth Empire and the Draconian Empire . The colony was presumably discontinued when the war was later resolved through peace talks . ( TV : " Frontier in Space " ) Luna University was founded by 2643 . ( PROSE : " Continuity Errors " ) By the 27th century , the Moon had a large city , which Bernice Summerfield described as " one of the most impressive cities in human space . " Half of the city was a theme park . ( AUDIO : " Resurrecting the Past " ) Circa the 30th century , Earth scientists were digging for resources on the moon as Earth had begun to run out . ( PROSE : " The Dust of Ages " ) In 5123 , River Song graduated from Luna University with a degree in archaeology . ( TV : " Let ' s Kill Hitler " ) Destruction . Circa the 53rd century , the Threshold , who had a longstanding base inside the Moon , had established Wormwood , a replica of a late 19th century American frontier town on the surface . They maintained there a superweapon known as the Eye of Disharmony . The Eighth Doctor ' s companion s Izzy Sinclair and Feyde sabotaged the Eye of Disharmony and the resulting feedback destroyed the satellite . ( COMIC : " Wormwood " ) Other moons . In the time of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire , the Earth had five moons . A penal colony still existed at this time . ( TV : " The Long Game " , " Bad Wolf " ) Geography . Locations on the Moon included Mare Fecunditatis , Sea of Tranquility , Sea of Nectar , Sea of Ingenuity and Sea of Crises . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Effects on Earth . Werewolves , such as the Host , were transformed from their human form into their wolf form under moonlight . The Tenth Doctor , through a telescope at Torchwood House , concentrated moonlight into a laser - like beam which killed the Host . This saved Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom . ( TV : " Tooth and Claw " ) Gravity of the Moon had connections with tide s on Earth . Around 2039 , its increased gravitational force led to the flooding of cities . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) References . After the Twelfth Doctor ' s mind was connected to a mind scythe , the " holiday snaps " the Doctor showed Kygon Brox included the Moon hatching . ( COMIC : " The Instruments of War " ) Behind the scenes . " Doctor in a Dash " . The lunar surface appears in the online game " Doctor In A Dash " as the setting of Level 3 where , as with all levels , the Doctor ' s TARDIS ( the player ) races against a Dalek flying saucer , a Judoon rocket , and a Slitheen craft to find a Space - Time Manipulator . Satellite s act as obstacles to the ships . Torchwood House website . The Torchwood House website had access to the Torchwood House observatory to look at the Moon ' s surface , with clickable pieces of information about various locations on the Moon that the cursor could hover over . It said that in 1924 , William H . Pickering had reported " dark patches " moving across the Erastothenes Crater . According to the website , this suggested " active life forms " . It also said that since 2001 , the Tycho Crater had been the source of " unusual signals " , which had increased in " recent months " .