Idaho's site extends from mountains to deserts to volcanic councilors and shows a wide range of natural landscapes.
In 1969, four astronauts of the Apollo program from NASA visited the craters of the moon national monument and retained in Southern Idaho to learn more about the surface of the moon before their historical journey.
The monument consists of 53,500 hectares of volcanic formations and lava fields in the Snake River level of Central Idaho. In wide lava fields, the landscape covers the surface of the moon and is an ideal place for training and research.
“As pilots, not geologists, the astronauts were there to examine the volcanic landscape – similar to how they could come across the moon – and learn the techniques of field geology to prepare for their examination and selection of the moon surface,” says NASA Earth Observatory website.
In addition to the moon craters in Idaho, the astronauts also visited Hawai'i and Iceland.
“Since a large part of the moon surface is covered by volcanic materials, it was very important that you know something about the lava that you would meet,” says the National Park Service website. “When visiting these places, the astronauts could become trained observers who could describe the surface characteristics that they explored geologists back on earth.”
More than 50 years after Astronauts were trained for the first time on his Lava fields, the crater of the moon is still an important place to study planet science here on Earth.
“In recent times, Craters of the Moon research teams have organized the studies to prepare for future missions on Mars,” says NPS article by Wade Vagias and Jennifer Jones. “Such studies included the evaluation of new tools for the detection of lava clocks, since the Basalt -Lava composition of the park resembles the stones that were found on the” red planet “and the moon.”
The continued research, which was carried out at Craters of the Moon, helps scientists to better understand volcanic characteristics, to develop stronger field instruments and to refine the examination of the moon surface.
The moon crates are 24 hours a day, all year round for visitors. For more information about the visit, see the National Park website.