Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Before Apollo 11 Moon Landing, Astronauts Practiced in Arizona
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
July 8, 2019

Share

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin knew they would be the first to walk on the moon, they took crash courses in geology at the Grand Canyon and a nearby impact crater that is the most well-preserved on Earth.

“It’s a really interesting and unique part of our history, and it’s really cool to think that this relatively small town in northern Arizona played such a big role in the Apollo missions.” — Benjamin Carver, public lands historian, Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona has had deep ties to the Apollo missions: Every moon-walking astronaut trained here, and a crater on the moon was even named in honor of the city of Flagstaff.
“It’s a really interesting and unique part of our history, and it’s really cool to think that this relatively small town in northern Arizona played such a big role in the Apollo missions,” said Benjamin Carver, a public lands historian at Northern Arizona University.
Today, astronaut candidates still train in and around Flagstaff, which is among many cities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969.
They walk in the same volcanic cinder fields where the U.S. Geological Survey intentionally blasted hundreds of craters from the ground to replicate the lunar surface, testing rovers and geology tools.
Scientists used early photos of the moon taken from orbit and re-created the Sea of Tranquility with “remarkable accuracy” before Apollo 11 landed there in 1969, the Geological Survey said.
Astronauts studied moon mapping at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff where Pluto was discovered and peered at their eventual destination through telescopes at various northern Arizona sites.
Photo of man-made craters in Flagstaff, Az. in 1968
This 1968 photo shows man-made craters in a volcanic cinder field east of Flagstaff, Ariz. Astronauts who walked on the moon used the site for training. (U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center via AP)

Armstrong, Aldrin Also Hiked Grand Canyon

The region’s role in moon missions is credited to former Geological Survey scientist Gene Shoemaker, who moved the agency’s astrogeology branch to Flagstaff in 1963. It wasn’t long before Shoemaker guided Armstrong and Aldrin on hikes at Meteor Crater as he pushed to ensure NASA would include geology in lunar exploration.
A story passed down by geologists at the crater says Aldrin ripped his spacesuit on jagged limestone rocks that are part of the aptly named “tear-pants formation,” forcing a redesign, head tour guide Jeff Beal said.
Armstrong and Aldrin also hiked the Grand Canyon. A historical photo shows Armstrong carrying a rock hammer, a hand lens and a backpack for rock samples.
Harrison “Jack” Schmitt was the only Apollo astronaut who didn’t train at the national park. The geologist left Flagstaff to become an astronaut, and while his comrades were learning geology, he was learning to be a pilot.
In another historical photo, Apollo astronauts Jim Irwin and David Scott ride around in Grover, a prototype of the lunar rover made in Flagstaff from spare parts and now on display at the Astrogeology Science Center.
The eventual lunar rover used in three Apollo missions famously got a broken fender on a 1972 mission to the moon. Astronauts cobbled together a quick fix that included a map produced by geologists in Flagstaff.

Flagstaff Celebrating 50th Anniversary

In yet another historical photo, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean stand in the volcanic cinder field bordered by ponderosa pine trees holding a tool carrier. Bean would later say: “I now love geology, thanks to these early experiences in Flagstaff,” local historian Kevin Schindler co-wrote in a book on space training in northern Arizona.

“It will be pretty inspiring for them. It’s inspiring for us being involved in this, but knowing you’re walking in the boot steps of these previous astronauts here in Flagstaff and, hopefully, some day on another body.” — Lauren Edgar, research geologist, Astrogeology Science Center
Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the Astrogeology Science Center, is working with the 2017 class of astronaut candidates who will be in Flagstaff later this year for field training.
“It will be pretty inspiring for them. It’s inspiring for us being involved in this, but knowing you’re walking in the boot steps of these previous astronauts here in Flagstaff and, hopefully, some day on another body,” she said.
Flagstaff is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing with tours, exhibits, talks and moon-themed food and art.
Charlie Duke, the youngest astronaut on the moon, is returning to Flagstaff in September as the keynote speaker at an annual science festival. He and Jason Young, who were on Apollo 17, named a moon crater “Flag Crater.”
Photo of a sign and fenced off field of craters in a volcanic cinder field
This June 2019 photo shows a fenced-off area in a volcanic cinder field east of Flagstaff, Ariz., that was used as a training site for astronauts who landed on the moon. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)

Acknowledging Its Importance in Moon Missions

Retired Flagstaff geologist Gerald Schaber plans to celebrate the lunar legacy wearing the same turquoise bolo tie that distinguished Shoemaker’s Arizona crew from others who worked on moon missions. Schaber was at Mission Control in Houston in 1969, monitoring black-and-white images while bent over a map trying to gauge the distance between Armstrong and Aldrin using cutouts of the men.
“I was just trying to do the best I could with the primitive tracking ability we had in those days,” he said from his home in Flagstaff where he has a signed photograph of a hill on the moon that Apollo 15 astronauts referred to “Schaber Hill.”
Of the three crater fields created in northern Arizona for astronaut training in the late 1960s, only one has a sign acknowledging its importance in the moon missions. Visitors can walk through gaps in a barbed-wire fence and feel their feet sink into the volcanic cinders, although not as deep as the astronauts’ feet on the moon.
The craters don’t come into view without being close up, some as darkened, shallow depressions and others as giant welts in the ground partially lost to the weather.
Arizona has approved a nomination to list several of the training sites on the National Register of Historic Places to better preserve them, but federal approval is still needed.

DON'T MISS

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

DON'T MISS

Chinese Leader Xi Issues a Positive Message to US Business Leaders as Ties Improve

DON'T MISS

Cargo Ship Lost Power, Issued Mayday Before Hitting Baltimore’s Bridge

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Social Media Company Soars Nearly 50% in Its First Day of Trading on Nasdaq

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Appears Likely to Preserve Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone

DON'T MISS

Court Agrees to Pause Trump’s Civil Fraud Judgment if He Puts up $175M

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Nab Suspect in March 14 Slaying on Bulldog Lane

No data was found

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

16 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

17 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

18 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

18 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

19 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

19 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

19 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

19 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

19 hours ago

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

21 hours ago

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

WASHINGTON — A fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Thursday in New York City that also stars Barack Obama and Bill Clinton is raising a wh...

15 mins ago

15 mins ago

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

Animals /
4 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

12 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
16 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

17 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

18 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

18 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

19 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend