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Before landing on the surface of the moon in 1969,
astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin needed
a training ground that matched their
destination's cratered surface.
>> Blast Captain: Fire!
[Explosions]
>> Narrator: In the U.S., that turned out to be
northern Arizona.
[Explosions]
Starting in 1967, the U.S. Geological Survey
used hundreds of pounds of dynamite
to blast holes into the surface
of ancient lava fields south of Sunset Crater
near Flagstaff.
The first Cinder Lake crater field
was designed to mimic the Sea of Tranquility,
the lunar surface on which the astronauts would land.
A second crater field was created in July of 1968.
Its 380 craters have lost contours to time
but the pock marks are still apparent
in aerial shots of the area which is now used
by offroad vehicles.
>> Archival Narrator: The size and location of each
of the 426 craters
have been reproduced with remarkable accuracy.
This is the Orbiter photograph of the lunar surface.
And this is an aerial photograph of the new crater field.
>> Narrator: Apollo astronauts would continue to train
in the Flagstaff area for years after the first moon landing.
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