The Plato Crater Research Center this winter has a reduced staff. This means they have more accommodations available for visitors. They have planned various Christmas activities and hope that folks from Seleneca and her neighboring operations will want to take a few days off and stay with them for the Christmas Holiday. All meals are included with the lodging. Dance parties and outings are planned outside and around the Center. Their prices have been cut in half for the holiday. The deputy director was a music DJ in his youth, so the parties there have a reputation for being anything but dull. One word of caution though, the newly arrived may not have ever danced before in the reduced gravity of the moon. You don’t want to be underneath them when they come back down to the floor. The Center also has a great recreation facility, and a human sized centrifuge that can hold up to 4 people to simulate Earth’s gravity.
The Center sits one mile above the floor of the Plato Crater on its north rim. The facility is built into the rock, with rooms that have real views out to the crater, not with the normal way of using screens fed by outside cameras. Their accommodations are our closest experience in the area to room with a view of the sea. The floor of the crater looks so flat from that height. The windows are designed like periscopes. Radiation is not reflected by mirrors, so it gets absorbed by the rock while the image bounces into the room by using two mirrors. Very cleaver!
Contact them for pricing and transportation. They have their own shuttle. The trip is about 6-7 hours in each direction. The drive is worth it by itself. The seats are quite comfortable, and they provide meals and refreshments. From Seleneca the shuttle stops at Frigoris Spaceport, then continues across the long plane of Mare Frigoris. It stops mid-way at an enclosed lava tube. There you can get out of the vehicle for a moment and stretch a bit. While there, you will be able to learn more about the lava tube and how it has been used over the last 60 years.
There is only one shuttle per day, on days they operate it. It leaves early in both directions, at 5 am. For Christmas, they recommend getting on the shuttle no later than the 24th. And the next return shuttle will be on the 26th. But of course, there is another celebration for New Years, and they have availability for you to stay with them for both events.
