---
title: "Apollo program training"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program_training"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:33:03.169458+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Apollo program training prepared NASA astronauts for crewed spaceflight and lunar surface operations during the Apollo program (1961–1972). The program encompassed geology fieldwork, spacecraft and landing simulation, survival training for contingency landings, water egress drills, and rehearsal of extravehicular activity (EVA) procedures. As Apollo missions grew in scope—from the brief surface stay of Apollo 11 to the extended traverses of Apollo 17—training methods evolved to match increasingly ambitious scientific objectives.

== Geology ==
Because the primary scientific activity on the lunar surface was geological—collecting samples, describing terrain, and photographing formations—astronauts with test-pilot backgrounds required extensive instruction in a discipline most had never studied. Geology training was the largest and longest-running component of the Apollo training program.

=== Early classroom and field instruction ===
Geological instruction began in January 1963, when Eugene Shoemaker of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) led the first two astronaut groups on a two-day trip to Meteor Crater and volcanic features near Flagstaff, Arizona. A formal curriculum followed in 1964, designed jointly by the USGS and NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston. It combined classroom lectures on geological principles, mineralogy, and petrology with field exercises. A total of 29 astronauts participated in the first series, which ran from February through June 1964. Subsequent groups continued through 1967, with later cohorts receiving a condensed version of the syllabus.
Organizational friction between USGS personnel and MSC scientists complicated the program's early years. Both groups had independently begun planning astronaut geology courses before learning of each other's efforts. After the USGS contingent withdrew from Houston to Flagstaff in mid-1964, the two organizations divided responsibilities: USGS handled general geology lectures, MSC covered mineralogy and petrology, and both cooperated on field trips.

=== Field training sites ===
Astronauts trained at geologically diverse locations chosen as lunar analogs. Sites included the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, volcanic fields in Hawaii, the Nevada National Security Site (where nuclear-blast craters resembled impact features), the Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains of the Sonoran Desert, and formations in New Mexico, Oregon, Alaska, west Texas, and Sudbury, Ontario.

Iceland served as one of the most valued analog sites. Two field expeditions—in July 1965 and July 1967—brought groups of astronauts to the volcanic highlands around Lake Mývatn and the Askja caldera. The barren basaltic terrain, with minimal vegetation cover, closely approximated conditions expected on the Moon. Nine of the twelve astronauts who walked on the Moon participated in one of the two Iceland trips. Harrison Schmitt, the only geologist to reach the lunar surface, later credited the Iceland exercises with improving crews' ability to interpret the complex rock assemblages of the regolith.

=== Simulated lunar surfaces ===

To replicate the topography of planned landing sites, the USGS and NASA constructed artificial crater fields, named the Cinder Lake Crater Fields, in a joint Astrogeology Research Program. Between July and October 1967, explosives were used to blast 47 craters into the basaltic cinders of the Cinder Lake area northeast of Flagstaff, reproducing a portion of Mare Tranquillitatis at 1:1 scale. A second, larger field followed in 1968:

To begin recreating the lunar craters, engineers dug into the basaltic sediment, revealing distinct layers of cinder and clay indicative of various volcanic episodes. Then, using 1,153 pounds of dynamite and 28,650 pounds of nitro-carbo-nitrate (a blend of agricultural fertilizer and fuel oil), the engineers began laying charges in each of the holes. A total of 354 charges were detonated to create the "oldest" craters, and 61 charges were then detonated to create craters of "intermediate" age. After the intermediate craters were created, scattering their debris over the projectile from the first set of explosions, the 11 remaining charges were detonated to make the "youngest" craters and disperse the final layer of debris.
Sequential detonations simulated overlapping ejecta blankets of different ages, allowing astronauts to practice describing crater morphology and relative age. A third field was produced in February 1970 at Black Mesa in the Verde Valley, using 850 tons of TNT and 43 tons of ammonium nitrate to create 380 craters. The Cinder Lake crater fields were created before Apollo 11, but the astronauts of Apollo 15 were first who trained on them; the Apollo 17 crew were the last to train there in 1972.
At MSC, an outdoor "rock pile" provided a smaller simulated surface. The original 63-foot-diameter facility, installed in 1964–1965, was replaced by 1968 with a two-acre field containing 188 craters. Kennedy Space Center maintained a comparable "sand pile" for tool and instrument practice, though its near-sea-level elevation sometimes caused craters to flood.

=== Mission-specific training ===
As landing-site selection matured after Apollo 12 demonstrated precision landing capability, field exercises became tailored to specific missions. Traverse planning for the later missions (Apollo 15, 16, and 17) was an iterative process involving geology teams, flight controllers, principal investigators, and crew members. Planned traverses were refined repeatedly and entered onto wrist-mounted cuff checklists for use on the surface. Crews practiced with the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) using a terrestrial test model nicknamed "Grover" (Geologic Rover) at the Cinder Lake fields and other Arizona sites.

== Simulators and flight training ==