What we feel on the moon

Twelve Americans walked on the moon between the arrival of Apollo 11, July 20, 1969and 1972, and most of them meticulously described their experience on this dark floor, covered with a fine dust and constantly hit by a blinding sun, where the force of gravity is a sixth part only on Earth. After the odyssey of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the Apollo project has continued with six other missions, five of which have been completed. The last time the man set foot on the moon, it was during the Apollo 17 mission, which took place on December 7, 1972..

Here are some of these spatial memories, collected mainly from interviews with NASA historians in the 1990s and 2000s:

• Just after the landing. "You feel the quietest moment that a human can live in. There is no vibration, no noise, the floor stops talking to us, our partner is amazed, he can not say anything, we realize suddenly that we have landed in another world, another star of the Universe, and that what we see is seen for the first time by a human being, by human eyes ". (Gene Cernan, Apollo 17)
• The black sky "We took a moment to look at the black sky, a totally black sky. The sun shines but is not reflected on the surface, there is no diffusion, there is no reflection, a totally black sky and we see another planet: the Earth (.. .) One begins to imagine that millions of people live on this planet and do not do it realize their fragility. " (Alan Shepard, Apollo 14)

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin recalls the "magnificent desolation" of the Moon

• L & # 39; horizon "I was surprised by the apparent nearness of the horizon, by the dust path raised by a boot (…) There has never been a cloud of dust, it happens when there is an atmosphere, but when there is no atmosphere, there is no I was absolutely stunned when I stopped rocket engine and that I saw the particles previously expelled from below the engine to the horizon.Once the engine stopped, these particles exceeded the horizon and disappeared instantly, as if the engine would have been off a week ago, it was unbelievable. " (Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11)
  "There is a problem in the moon to perceive the depth, we are looking at objects that we have never seen before, a large object very far away looks very much like a little closer object, there is no telephone poles, no houses, no trees, nor cars to estimate the scale, as on the Earth ". (Charlie Duke, Apollo 16)
• Walking light. "It seems like there is no difficulty moving, as we thought, it might even be easier than in the simulations with one-sixth of the gravity we did on Earth, walking does not pose not really a problem. " (Neil Armstrong at the control center, shortly after descending from the lunar module)

Astronaut Apollo XI: "We feel the weight of the world on our shoulders"

"I started running slowly, I felt I was moving in slow motion, with lazy steps, my feet often floated at the same time in the air". (Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11, in his book "Magnificent Desolation")

"Finding the balance is not easy, however, I noticed that when I was doing big jumps, I had a tendency to lean back." Once, I almost fell and told myself that I had to stop myself ". (Neil Armstrong, technical interrogation)

• Gloves. "The biggest problem was the custom-made gloves, which looked like balloons (…) When you wanted to grab something, you had to press to overcome the pressure (…) Pressing against this pressure was exhausting to forearm muscles, imagine that you were holding a tennis ball continuously for eight or ten hours ". (Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17)

• Hard floor. "Nailing the flagpole on the moon's ground was harder than expected … For the first time, a panic shock shook me.From my childhood, I had seen great explorers plant their flags in their new worlds, the first to plant a flag that would fall? " (Buzz Aldrin, "Magnificent Desolation")
• Unpleasant dusts "There was a bit of moon dust on the floor (of the module), it had an abrasive texture, like coal, and a pungent, metallic smell, like gunpowder, like the smell left in the air after the firecracker explosion, Neil likened the smell to that of wet ash. " (Buzz Aldrin)
• Metaphysical feeling "Suddenly, I realized that the molecules of my body, spacecraft and my companions were coming from older generations of stars, and I suddenly experienced that from a very personal way, instead of an objective reflection of the type "Oh yes, molecules and atoms come from the stars." No: my molecules were created in these stars, c & # 39; was crazy! " (Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14)

And what does the moon smell?

"It's really a strong smell, it has that taste, for me, for gunpowder and the smell of gunpowder too," said Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke. His colleague Gene Cernan, of Apollo 17, said that the Moon "smelled as if someone had shot a rifle". Your traveling companion, Jack Schmitt, He noticed that "all Apollo astronauts were used to handling weapons". So when they said that "moon dust smells like burnt gunpowderthey knew what they were talking about.

D.S./H.B.