Throughout the 1960s, NASA scientists and technicians worked relentlessly to train their astronauts for the Apollo missions to come. Locations throughout Arizona were selected by the United States Geological Survey’s new astrogeology branch to serve as lunar analogues—the moon right here at home. Arizona had plenty of existing craters, exposed canyons, volcanic cinder cones, and lava fields to test NASA’s people, suits, vehicles, and equipment. And to make things even more lunar, a field north of Flagstaff was loaded with explosives and blown to bits to create a cratered landscape complete with ejecta, the underlying rock excavated and flung onto the surface by the simulated meteor impacts.
Apollo Training: When Arizona Stood In for the Moon
Hints:
View this page full screen.
Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.
-
![]()
Read moreThe Apollo astronauts Charles Duke and John Young train on the geological rover, or "Grover," a lunar rover trainer, in Arizona. Both Duke and Young went on to walk on the surface of the moon in 1972, during Apollo 16. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreExplosions send dirt into the sky during the construction of Cinder Lake Crater Field #2 on July 27, 1968. A total of 354 craters were carved out of the Arizona landscape in this field to create a simulated lunar surface. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreA post-explosion aerial view of the completed Cinder Lake Crater Field #2, showing very light ejecta caused by excavation of clay beds immediately below black basaltic cinders. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreThe astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan view a crater within the Cinder Lake Crater Field. Both men went on to walk on the surface of the moon in 1972, during Apollo 17. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreA Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation lunar-rover concept vehicle navigates boulders with a Grumman engineer driving. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreAn overview of what was referred to as "Apollo dike," where early Apollo-suit tests were held, in Hopi Buttes, Arizona, in May 1966. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreThe USGS geologist Joe O'Connor wears an early version of the Apollo spacesuit during testing in the fall of 1965, at Apollo mesa dike in the Hopi Buttes volcanic field in Arizona. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreThe Explorer vehicle negotiates a crater in the crater field. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreA suited subject stands on the edge of the Bonito Lava Flow near Arizona's Sunset Crater volcano, with an early concept of a "lunar staff" with a sun compass on top. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreThe Mobile Geological Laboratory, or MOLAB, an early-concept lunar vehicle, tests at Merriam Crater, northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1966. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreThe astronauts Jim Irwin and Dave Scott check out an outcrop during the final geology exercise for the Apollo 15 prime and backup crew at Coconino Point, Arizona, on June 25, 1971. Both men went on to walk on the surface of the moon in 1971, during Apollo 15. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreThe Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt stands on the edge of an erosional canyon that was used to simulate the large Hadley Rille at the Apollo 15 landing site. Schmitt was originally part of the Apollo 15 backup crew, and later slated to fly in Apollo 18. When that mission was canceled, Schmitt was moved up to Apollo 17 due to his previous work and studies as a professional geologist. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreCinder Lake Crater Field #1, photographed after an additional 96 craters were added in October 1967. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreThe USGS geologists Tim Hait and David Schleicher work in spacesuits during an early Apollo field test at Cinder Lake Crater Field #1, with a simulated lunar-module ascent stage mock-up parked on an earthen ramp in the background. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreA view of Chezhin Chotah Butte as seen from inside the lunar-module mock-up through one of two triangular windows, photographed in 1965. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreAn explosion makes a large test crater on the surface of Black Point lava flow on August 1, 1968, along the Little Colorado River, north of Flagstaff, Arizona. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreThe hand-constructed Explorer vehicle, made by the astrogeology branch of USGS, is field tested in June 1967 on an extremely blocky lava flow just west of Hank's Trading Post, near Flagstaff, Arizona. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreA demonstration of the rocket belt made by Bell Aerosystems, during Apollo training. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreThe astrogeologist Gene Shoemaker describes the geology of the rim ejecta of Arizona's Meteor Crater to a large group of astronauts during a field trip in May 1967. #
USGS -
-
![]()
Read moreThe astronauts Jim Irwin and Dave Scott pilot Grover near the rim of a large crater in the Cinder Lake Crater Field. #
USGS -
![]()
Read moreA modern satellite view, made in 2011, of Cinder Lake Crater Field #2, north of Flagstaff, Arizona, decades after its use as a lunar training location. See it mapped. #
© Google Inc.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.