That early April jaunt around the moon was supposed to represent a first step toward building a lunar base, where small crews of people would be confined for long stretches of time. Eventually, that base could expand into a scientific and industrial center, but the first crews would live in extreme isolation.
For all the enthusiasm a moon base has generated at NASA and the Trump administration, it’s hard to imagine more difficult living conditions for an astronaut. The moon is a thousand times further from Earth than the International Space Station—making trips back and forth vastly more complicated.
The rugged, pockmarked surface is also much harsher than the orbit of the space station, which is partly protected by Earth’s magnetic field. A moon base would have to account for 300-degree temperature swings, showers of deadly radiation, and flying dust particles. On a moon base, you wouldn’t be able to just stomp out if you had a tiff or needed to blow off steam—which you can do (though not easily) at another pretty isolated place, the South Pole.
And that’s just the physical environment astronauts would face. There are also potential interpersonal issues. Serious problems can arise when crews of six to eight people are confined for months at a stretch. In a 1999 mock Mars mission, a New Year’s celebration led to some drinking, and a male Russian cosmonaut tried to convince a female Canadian astronaut to kiss him. When she refused, he yanked her away from the cameras and did it without her consent. On that same mission, a fistfight reportedly broke out, and one astronaut quit early.
