how is it on the moon

WASHINGTON: Twelve American men walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972, most of them describing in detail their experiences of the dusty, low-gravity world illuminated by the blinding sunlight.

Here are their impressions, collected from a series of oral history interviews conducted by NASA during the 1990s and 2000s unless otherwise noted.

– Right after the landing –

"It is there that you live the quietest moment that a human being can live while he is alive.There is no vibration.There is no noise." The floor has stopped speaking.Your partner is fascinated.He can not say anything.The dust has disappeared.It is an achievement, a reality, suddenly, you just landed in another body, somewhere in the universe, and what you see is seen by human beings, human eyes, for the first time. "Gene Cernan, Apollo 17

– Totally black sky –

"We had a few moments to look around, to look into the dark sky – a totally black sky, even if the sun is shining on the surface, it is not reflected, there is no diffusion, no reflection – a totally black sky and see another planet: the planet Earth … You think of yourself, imagine that millions of people live on this planet and do not realize how fragile it is. " Alan Shepard, Apollo 14

– The horizon –

"I was surprised by the apparent nearness of the horizon.I was surprised by the trajectory of the dust that you launched with your boot, and I was surprised to see that even if the logic would have said that there should not be any, there was no dust when you kicked in. You've never had a Dust cloud over there.This is the product of an atmosphere, and when you have no atmosphere, you have no clouds of dust. I was completely stunned when I shut the engine off the rocket and the particles that came out radially from the bottom of the engine fell to the horizon, and when I shut down the engine, they rushed on the horizon and instantly disappeared, you know, just as if it had been closed for a week, it was remarkable. "Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11

"There is a problem on the Moon Your – with the perception of depth, because you are looking at objects that you have never seen, then a large distant object looks a lot like a smaller object that stands Nearby you do not have any pole – telephone poles, houses, trees or cars, to sit and judge on the scale as we did … here on Earth. Charlie Duke, Apollo 16

– A lazy lope –

"There seems to be no difficulty in moving, as we thought, it's maybe even easier than the simulations of a sixth of a g that we've done in the different simulations On the ground, it's not a problem to walk. " Armstrong at Mission Control soon after descending from the lunar module of Apollo 11.

"I started running a bit, and I felt I was moving slowly in a slow wind, often with both feet floating in the air. One of the greatest joys of being on the moon was our mobility a little light. "Buzz Aldrin from Apollo 11 in his book" Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Back from the Moon "

"I would say that balancing (when walking) is not difficult, however, I did jumps quite high and found that there was a tendency to Tipping back on a high jump, once I almost fell and decided that was enough of that. " Armstrong in his 1969 technical report.

– Gloves –

"The biggest problem is that the gloves are balloons … to pick up something, you have to press against that pressure, 3.7 psi … This pressure causes the fatigue of these forearm muscles very quickly, imagine yourself squeezing a tennis ball continuously for eight hours or ten hours, and that's what you're talking about. "Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17

– Hard ground –

"Getting the flagpole on the lunar surface was harder than expected, and for the first time a wave of panic burned in. From my childhood, I saw pictures of great explorers planting their flags in their new worlds. to plant the flag and make it fall? "Aldrin in" Magnificent Desolation "

– Nasty dust –

"I noticed moon dust on the ground (lunar module) .It had a grainy texture similar to that of charcoal and a pungent metallic smell, something like gunpowder or l & # 39; Air odor after the destruction of a firecracker Neil described it as having a smell of "wet ashes." Aldrin in "Magnificent Desolation"

– An epiphany –

"Suddenly, I realized that the molecules of my body and the space shuttle as well as my companion were prototyped by an older generation of stars." And one way or the other. another, it suddenly became very personal instead of a goal: "Oh, yes." Molecules and atoms were made in these stars. "No, my molecules were made in these stars, and it was a "wow!" "Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14