PHOENIX — Throughout October, astronauts will be walking the craters and landscapes of Northern Arizona.
The missions will practice moonwalking and roving operations, using Arizona's desert as a stand-in for the moon.
“Our goal is to simulate one of the early astronaut missions to the moon," Kelsey Young, JETT # Science lead and Houston test director.
The JETT 3 Mission is a series of nighttime, simulated moonwalks, complete with an artificial sun. The idea is to replicate future low light conditions the Artemis missions expect to face on the Moon's south pole.
Two NASA astronauts, Drew Feustel and Zena Cardman will walk the one-mile circuit in mockup space suits. A flight control team will be leading back in Houston.
“We have a full science team, the full EVA team, including the flight director, the CAPCOM, and the Eva directors.”
Later this month, at the Black Point Lava Flow, will focus on pressurized rover operations. The rovers will act like space RVs, allowing astronauts to live, work, and eat in the vehicle.
Arizona's role as a stand-in for the moon goes back to before the Apollo missions.
When President John F. Kennedy promised to go to the moon, the US had to look for the right place to prepare them.
“We were in space for a total of 15 minutes, so we had a lot to do,” Kevin Schindler, a historian at Lowell Observatory, said.
Schindler said Arizona's rocks first brought astronauts to northern Arizona.
“Every astronaut who went to the moon did geology training here in Arizona," Schindler said.
Arizona's array of impact craters and volcanic formations make it an ideal spot to learn about the rocks they may see on the moon. At Cinder Lake, scientists and engineers blew holes in the ground to mirror the crater conditions on the moon.
"Half a century after those first pioneers walked on the moon, we’re now getting ready for the next people to go back, and they are training at some of the same places,” Schindler said. “It worked before. Why not do it again?”
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