"A few minutes ago, I read the MSNBC article and, just like you (and quite unlike p who thought other parts of the article where more important), I was struck by its very last sentence: The Moon is a beautiful place.

What does it mean, actually?
We remember Aldrin's quote "Magnificient Desolation".
The Moon is colorless, the contrast between the shadow and the sunlit areas is far too strong to our eyes" ....

Raoul, I'm almost positive, that you have seen color pictures of the Moon, why do you say it's colorless?
And "too strong to our eyes"? The only thing significantly different from Earth is the UV light. When astronaut are working outside the ISS they have the same levels of UV as would be on the Moon.

"the mountains have very gentle slopes (to the point where it's difficult to judge whether or not you are on a slope) and the landscape is rocks, rocks, craters, craters and dust absolutely everywhere....And....supreme shame...No Stars! (at least on the sunlit side)"

No stars?? All you need to do is stop looking at bright objects- look at the sky for a few minutes and you will start to see stars.