Everyone's image of Grissom City is the Main Concourse, two levels of shops and restaurants designed entirely to cater to the tourist trade. Other than some of the really big pressurized maintenance hangars, it's the largest pressurized volume on all of Luna.

But for those of us who actually live and work up here, it's something we hear about more than we actually see. All those shops and restaurants aren't going to sell to us, even if we could afford the prices. And for those of us who live out on Slayton Field, in the Roosa Barracks, it's accessible only if we have a pass. Flight Ops considers us to be pretty much on-call at all times, especially those of us with pilot qualifications.

Same rules for the commanders and pilots of the landers in from other settlements. If there's a problem, the last thing Flight Ops wants is to have to hunt down someone who's decided to go sightseeing.

It's kind of frustrating, especially when pilot-astronauts have traditionally been considered the top of the social ladder in the space community. But I can see why it's done this way, especially now that the tourist trade is becoming such a major part of Grissom City's economy. These people need to feel like their experience is something special, and rubbing elbows with the people who actually work here might spoil that.