Astronauts heading to the Moon should learn the art of cross-country skiing, a scientist who flew on the last lunar Apollo mission claims.
Harrison Schmitt, part of the 1972 Apollo 17 crew, said it would allow them to explore faster and more easily.
Addressing scientists in San Francisco, he said his knowledge of Nordic skiing had allowed him to glide effortlessly across the dusty lunar surface.
The US space agency (Nasa) will send manned missions to the moon by 2020.
Talking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, Dr Schmitt said that because gravity was just one-sixth that of Earth, astronauts would not need skis themselves.
"Poles would be nice to have for stability," said Dr Schmitt, the first and only scientist to land on the Moon.
To stop, a lunar explorer would just have to dig into the powdery lunar dust, he said.
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