Home / National Park Service Exhibits / Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument (SUCR) / Training Astronauts in Sunset Crater Volcano NM 17
Between 1963 and 1972, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument was an integral part of the Apollo Project.
The Bonito Lava Flow and the surrounding cinder hills were used to train the Apollo astronauts for scientific exploration of the moon and to test equipment used on the unmanned Surveyor missions and later Apollo flights to the moon.
Many of the images included in this album are from the USGS archives. They also appear in USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190 (open report in new window).
- Testing the Surveyor Camera System
- Testing the Lunar Staff
- Testing the First Spacesuits, 1964
- Testing Suits on the Bonito Lava Flow
- Testing an Early Concept of the Lunar Staff
- Testing "Grover" at Sunset Crater Volcano NM
- Surveyor Lunar Rover Prototype
- Suiting Up
- Preparing to Test Equipment, 1964
- Geology Training on the Bonito Lava Flow, 1964
- Geology Briefings, Bonito Lava Flow, 1964
- Gene Phillippi resting on the edge of the Bonito Lava Flow
- Exploring the Bonito Lava Flow, 1964
- Collecting a Sample
- 1963 Map of the Surveyor Test Locations