Geology Training of Astronauts Prior to Apollo Crew Selection

Long before the Apollo crews were chosen in the late 60s, many of the astronauts underwent instruction in geology in both a classroom setting and in a comprehensive series of field trips. This geology training was managed jointly by the USGS staff geologists in Flagstaff AZ and by a small group of NASA geologists at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now JSC) in Houston. Phase I began in 1964 and consisted of training in the principles of terrestrial and lunar geology. It included 56 hours of classroom instruction in Houston along with four field trips (Grand Canyon, Marathon Basin, Kitt Peak Observatory, Flagstaff geology, and Philmont Ranch, N. M). Phase II consisted of 43 hours of classroom instruction in Houston and included lectures by the JSC geologists and by visiting experts (including Hal Masursky, E. M. Shoemaker, H. J. Moore, E. C. T. Chao, Jack Green, and J. A. O'Keefe) and also included seven field trips. In all cases, the field trips were led by the recognized expert geologist for that area. Areas visited were Newbury Crater Oregon area (A. C. Waters), the Valles Caldera, N. M. (Bob Smith and Roy Bailey), the Hawaii volcano terrain (Howard Powers and Jerry Eaton), the Nevada Test Site (E. M. Shoemaker and Fred Houser), Meteor Crater AZ (E. M. Shoemaker), Medicine Lake CA volcanic area (C. A. Anderson), and Kitt Peak Observatory (Spence Titley and Dick Eggleton). Phase III had 36 hours of classroom instruction and field trips to Iceland, Katmai, Alaska, Pinacates Mexico, and Zuni Salt Lake crater area. It emphasized training in terrestrial geologic mapping, geophysical studies, field observations and verbal descriptions, and sampling procedures. Many lessons learned from this pre-Apollo training can be applied to the training of current and future astronauts for lunar missions.