If i was a Lancaster crew member in ww2, i would slip some tea bags in my flight suit just in case. Chocolate too, and rubbers just in case. Oh, i wont be around in 9 months. Ditch that. A small pair of scissors for nose hair would be good, and a box of matches.

As you say, there is light on the far side of the moon, and there is an atmoshere, isnt there? One would need to breathe more deeply, and striking a match might need more gusto. He had a whole plane to burn. I reckon he died of boredom.

What is there to do up there? The aliens gave him food, its the least they could do after a kidnap. Massive guilt there. It seems to me seti is ignoring the equivalent of alien eastenders.