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).