A lot is said and written about the 12 men who walked on the surface of the moon. We hear comparatively little about the six who didn't go quite that far.

Michael Collins was the first human to experience that most profound isolation of orbiting the moon's far side alone, cut off from his entire race, and he has often admitted that it changed him.

As a lifelong loner with a philosophical bent, I've often imagined what that must be like. Alone, in darkness, surrounded by a vast unknown. Even with the command module pilot's solo mission, how often would those minutes seem stretch into an eternity? How many times would I just stop and ponder the notion that, no matter how hard I tried, I could neither see nor communicate with another human being?

@mikey

"This, however, could not be further from the truth, he explained during an interview with Bob Cabana, the director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday. “I was always asked ‘Wasn’t I the loneliest person?’” he said. “The answer was ‘No, I felt fine’.”"

https://www.foxnews.com/science/apollo-11-astronaut-michael-collins-coffee

@sda My reference was Chaikin's _A Man on the Moon_, where Collins speaks of something more akin to a spiritual experience rather than loneliness. But the sense of isolation from humanity resonates far more strongly in me than being closer to God.

@sda Specifically, this quote:

"I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side. I feel this powerfully---not as fear or loneliness---but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation. I like the feeling."

As someone who often prefers to be alone, this is a moving passage.

@mikey
"...but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation. I like the feeling."

I like that. Also generally prefer solitude.
I guess it only makes sense his feelings wouldn't be the same for every orbit around the backside.

@sda The CMP solo stories are some of my favorite parts of that book, just because their experiences feel so much deeper. It's one thing to walk on another world. It's quite another to circle around it by yourself.

Probably why I loved _The Martian_ so much, come to think of it.

@mikey

> It's one thing to walk on another world. It's quite another to circle around it by yourself.

Hmmm... I wouldn't know. ;-)

I also liked The Martian.