Fisher looked up at the lip of the crater, at the shimmering divide where oxygen and nitrogen gave way to the lighter gaseous mixture of helium and neon. It was as if he stood on the floor of a giant lake - a sense of wonder and gentle panic came over him as he entertained this thought.

Moltke crater had been chosed because it was one of the deeper craters on the Earth-facing side of the moon. It was currently late afternoon on Luna, and would remain so for approximately the next week and a half, a byproduct of the effect of tidal locking.

As he turned around, taking in the full three hundred and sixty degrees of the crest, the glare from his spaceship made him squint briefly. It had been designed to spiral into lunar craters and canyons, using aerodynamic drag to decelerate itself and land without using any of the precious rocket fuel needed to push through the two hundred and fifty kilometers of lighter-than-air gases that hung between him and his orbital spacecraft.

He took a deep breath through his respirator and began walking over to the small bamboo-like shoots that sprouted about a hundred meters away. The focus of intense study over the last few decades, probes had revealed that the vegetation of Luna traveled much like Betta fish on Earth did - skipping around from pond to pond until they found one suitable for growth.

Though the mixture of air was technically breathable, he wore a light backpack to compress the air for inhalation, as the pressure was so little that his lungs couldn't take in enough oxygen to keep him conscious by themselves. The local flora got by just fine.

His crewmates began to exit the spacecraft behind him, carrying their own gear and instruments. They planned on remaining here a few weeks - at least two full lunar cycles, to measure the changes in atmosphere and vegetation over the course of the day.