What would it be like to actually reside on the Moon? Life couldn’t be all about science, all the time. That’s not even true for scientists here on Earth.
Here’s a thought-provoking — if, to me, not altogether satisfying — proposal in that connection:
http://www.space.com/36221-moon-temple-lunar-colony-art-project.html
Fortunately, the isolation of Moon colonists from Earth wouldn’t be absolute. In fact, well into the nineteenth century, transoceanic voyages between Europe and the Americas took considerably longer than space flight from Terra to Luna requires. The fastest transatlantic crossing ever achieved by a passenger liner was that of the United States in July 1952, which took three days, ten hours, and forty minutes. By contrast, Apollo 11 — with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard — reached lunar orbit only 51 hours and 49 minutes after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, which is to say that the voyage required two days plus slightly less than four hours. Practically a commute.
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