antarctica and the moon

Probably the most significant question looming for me after watching the antarctic premiere of Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World Thanksgiving Sunday, was, why do so many people say that coming to Antarctica is like going to the moon? Is it even a true statement? Few humans (30-some) have ever even been to the moon. I doubt that many of the people making such statements have listened to first-hand accounts of or done substantial research into the lunar experience. Even our big red parkas aren't as cumbersome as a space suit, and there's an atmosphere we can breathe. So why this assertion?
The woman drawing the blinds on my sunshine in the galley during my after-yoga dinner reading said, We're having a movie in here in a few minutes. I looked at her. You could close them when it's about to start. I nodded. Shortly thereafter, a British accent came on said something about space travel and it being another premiere, this time southern hemisphere, and I sat back down with my cereal as the movie started, blinds fully extended. Perhaps, I thought, I'll find some answers to my question in this tale of the Apollo moon missions.
The documentary did a good job putting the space mission in the context of its time, showing clips of Kennedy, both speaking and in coffin, race marches and other protests, and bombing (napalm?) in Vietnam. As Herzog started making movies in the 60s, perhaps he did at least watch the first steps on the moon on TV in July of '69. One of the astronauts spoke of how he felt guilty for missing "his war", while his fellow pilots fought and died. Hopefully he found some refuge in one comrade's response that this was the one good thing Americans could be proud of at that time. As In the Shadow of the Moon progressed, it conveyed a fair picture of the astronauts' personalities, preparing us to hear their reactions to their travels, while pretty good movie music made the old preparation and launch footage dramatic. (Come to think of it, it was the kind of music you could write a figure skating routine to. :)
I took a short nap and woke to their reactions. Mike Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot impressed me the most with his humanity and dry humor. He said he was not scared; the time to be scared was when something actually broke, but worried constantly. While he was disappointed to go but not stand on the moon, he enjoyed the sensation of being the only person on the dark side of the moon, while 2 + billions waited on the other side. Unlike what most people said, he was not the loneliest person in the world then, with Houston talking in his ear most of the time.
Other astronauts realized the fragility and insignificance of the world: he doesn't complain about weather or traffic anymore, or were moved spirituality, the belief in the existence of a benevolent god, or even to Jesus: "my walk on the moon lasted 3 days; my walk with Jesus lasts a lifetime." They described how lucky we are to have this beautiful jewel hanging in the blackness of space to call home, how you can see pollution from space now as you could not then, and how small the earth is from the moon: you can cover it with your thumb. Perspective.
But in direct answer to my question regarding antarctic and lunar similarities, the film was rather silent. Instead, the best resonance seems to be in the human effort required to reach into the unknown and the human reaction to being alone in a vast and rather inhospitable place. (Vast... such a small, seemingly simple word for such an enormous concept!)
It took solid, smart leaders like Amundsen and Shakleton to meld and motivate their technically skilled companions to survive on this continent and make the pole. Kennedy captured the heart of the nation and challenged Americans to make the moon in a decade, a huge expedition which killed the first 3 Apollo 1 astronauts in testing because they didn't consider carefully enough the combination of poor wiring and a pressurized, pure Oxygen cabin atmosphere. (spark = poof, fire) Scott and his polar party paid the ultimate price for their poor decisions, dying of starvation, exhaustion, and exposure ~10 mi from their furthest-out food depot.
Today, we have gone from the drive and spirit inspired by Kennedy's challenge to make the moon in a decade, to enough monetary crises that we won't have space flight capability for at least 4 years, starting in 2010, while transitioning from the shuttles to Orion. Bush's mars proclamation seems a cheap imitation.
At least we're still working on the idea, despite failures. And perhaps, we'll again find a hopeful reflection of humanity like Collins did: during their journey around the world after returning from the moon, he said he was amazed to hear people everywhere saying "we did it" not "the Americans did it", though the challenge began as a political competition. 'The world was united, at least for a little while'.