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Author
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Topic: Astronaut Wall of Fame at Meteor Crater (AZ)
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-20-2016 11:01 AM
  
At Meteor Crater in Arizona, there is a rather nice-looking American Astronaut Wall of Fame that lists the astronauts in the order they flew, and their missions. It is outside the visitor's center, along with a boilerplate (BP-29) Apollo spacecraft.The wall seems to list only U.S. missions. By my count, there are 333 names on the wall, from "Alan B. Shepard, Jr. - Mercury 3, Apollo 14" to "Edward Michael Fincke - STS-134," the last "rookie" shuttle astronaut. (STS-134 was Fincke's third spaceflight, and his first shuttle flight.) There are some errors in the list on the wall, but I still think it is an impressive monument (at a great location) to the NASA astronauts. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-24-2016 12:21 PM
The Lunar and Planetary Institute has this 3D flyover of Meteor Crater. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-25-2016 08:34 AM
Astronauts who have been to Meteor Crater for geology training: - January 1963 - Armstrong, Borman, Conrad, Lovell, McDivitt, See, Stafford, White, Young
- April 1965 - Anders, Bassett, Cernan, Chaffee, Collins, Cunningham, Eisele, Gordon, Schweickart, Scott, Williams
- May 1967 - Brand, Carr, Duke, Evans, Garriott, Gibson, Haise, Irwin, Kerwin, Lind, Lousma, Mattingly, McCandless, Michel, Mitchell, Roosa, Swigert, Weitz, Worden
- June 1967 - Bull, Engle, Givens, Pogue
- July 1969 - Bean
- October 1969 - Duke, Haise, Lovell, Young
- June 1970 - Brand, Gordon, Irwin, Schmitt, Scott, Worden
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cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 07-25-2016 09:05 AM
There's a book about Meteor Crater due next month. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-25-2016 09:30 AM
How does Meteor Crater in Arizona compare to North Ray Crater on the Moon?Meteor Crater is about 1.2 kilometers wide and 180 meters deep. North Ray Crater is about 1 kilometer wide and 240 meters deep. The Meteor Crater impact occurred around 50,000 years ago. The North Ray Crater impact occurred around 50 million years ago. Was primitive man even around 50,000 years ago to see the big event? |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 07-28-2016 01:46 PM
Not to dwell too much on paleoanthropology, but the answer is yes, primitive man was around in North America 50,000 years ago, a lot earlier than previously thought before the most recent ice age 20,000 years ago. |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-28-2016 08:57 PM
I was there in 2008 and I don't recall the wall. I did, however, take note of the boilerplate capsule in the center of the atrium. We did the tour where you actually walk out to the rim, and we were told that astronauts were there the previous week for future lunar training. If that's true, well, I have no idea but it sounded cool... One of the things about the place is that the employees dress in uniforms that look very similar to the National Park Service ones. It causes some anger at the ticket window when people realize it ain't cheap to enter the place. I watched two young ladies get cussed out by an annoying Northeast couple because they thought their tax dollars already paid for them to go (which, it didn't, as the crater is privately owned).
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
Was primitive man even around 50,000 years ago to see the big event?
If they were close enough to see it happen close by, I doubt any primitive people lived to tell anyone. Makes you wonder what kinds of legends would have been passed on among the local tribe had this occurred, say, post 1700? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-28-2016 09:18 PM
The asteroid that created Meteor Crater was only about 45 meters (150 feet) wide.This LPI map shows the area affected by the fireball, pressure wave and hurricane-force winds created by the Meteor Crater impact. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-29-2016 08:07 AM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
There are some errors in the list on the wall
- a few astronauts are listed out-of-sequence
- the Skylab mission numbers are wrong
- Charles Camarda (STS-114) is missing from the wall
- Nancy Sherlock-Currie is on the wall twice (first as Nancy Sherlock, and then later as Nancy Currie)
- some non-Americans are on the wall (I counted four)
- the wall shows U.S. missions only, so the six NASA astronauts (to date) who have flown only on Soyuz spacecraft are not on the wall, but deserve to be
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cfreeze79
Member Posts: 455
From: Herndon, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-29-2016 11:09 AM
Fun fact: a small, Cessna 152, airplane once crashed in the Barringer crater... I interviewed the co-pilot about it a few years back (never published the story, though). |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-29-2016 12:15 PM
quote:
Originally posted by cfreeze79:
Fun fact: a small, Cessna 152, airplane once crashed in the Barringer crater...
They talked about when we were there. They said the canyon walls prevented enough lift for the plane to get back out once it entered. The remains of the plane are buried in the mine shaft in the center of the bottom of the crater. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-29-2016 01:12 PM
The non-Americans on the "American" wall are Dirk Frimout, Steven MacLean, Gerhard Thiele and Leopold Eyharts. |
cfreeze79
Member Posts: 455
From: Herndon, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-29-2016 03:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by p51:
They said the canyon walls prevented enough lift for the plane to get back out once it entered.
Mmm - that's not what he said (exactly). The winds created a strong "wall" of air that the airplane couldn't build enough speed to penetrate. They were fine inside the crater, but simply couldn't get out. The tail section of the plane is still on the crater floor, but yes, most of the wreckage was pushed down the mine shaft. I may have to finish that story and publish it! |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-29-2016 04:20 PM
Meteor Crater as seen from Expedition 14 on the ISS in 2007. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-30-2016 11:03 PM
It looks like the asteroid approached from the southwest. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-05-2016 10:56 PM
Rusty Schweickart at Meteor Crater and the Astronaut Wall of Fame in 2012. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 08-06-2016 09:00 PM
Am looking forward to seeing as many astronaut training photos as possible in and round the crater. The LPL's 3D "flyby" looks awesome. Glad to see a softcover keep the price down. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-06-2016 09:59 PM
How many astronauts can you identify in the May 1967 photo? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-07-2016 09:00 PM
There is a large boulder called "House Rock" on the east rim of Meteor Crater. Sound familiar? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-10-2016 10:44 AM
Former space shuttle astronaut Jose Hernandez is presently visiting Meteor Crater, per his updates on Twitter. World's largest conserved meteorite crater! NASA Apollo era Astronauts trained here for their lunar walks!  
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-12-2016 09:40 AM
In the Schweickart photo, you can see the Skylab errors on the wall. Apparently, those mistakes have been corrected. Another wall photo shows "Skylab 2" for the Conrad crew, "Skylab 3" for the Bean crew and "Skylab 4" for the Carr crew. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-12-2016 11:56 AM
This impressive 3D view of Meteor Crater is from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-12-2016 03:22 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
...those mistakes have been corrected.
Strictly speaking, those weren't mistakes. On Sightings, we use the 1, 2, 3 designations, as also appear on the crew patches, at the recommendation of the late Bill Pogue. Because of the way the program unfolded, each of the crew flights have several designations, e.g. SL-2, SLM-1, Skylab I, Skylab 2 all refer to the first crewed mission. Pogue said that it was best to use Skylab 1, as that would be the most straightforward way to reference the first crew. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-12-2016 03:52 PM
Also note in the Schweickart wall photo that Carr and Gibson are Skylab 3, and Pogue is Skylab 4.The Skylab number confusion does not surprise me, but the Skylab mission numbers on the wall were changed at some point.
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-30-2019 12:55 AM
The Historical Marker Database has a large photo of the American Astronaut Wall Of Fame showing all the names. |
PeterO
Member Posts: 399
From: North Carolina
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 06-30-2019 08:32 AM
On the wall photo, I see Joe Engle is listed as John H. Engle. Second tile from the left, second tile down. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 06-30-2019 09:56 AM
There are some errors, but it is still a nice landmark nonetheless.The Wall lists the astronauts in the order they flew. Another option would have been to list the astronauts (and missions flown} by the NASA Groups selected. In that way, the names of the astronauts who had geology training at Meteor Crater but did not fly (like See, Bassett, Williams, Michel, Bull, Givens) would also be included. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-01-2019 11:10 AM
Compare the 2012 and 2016 photos of the Wall. It has been altered somewhat. |
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