Boiler Plate 29A was a test capsule built in 1965 to test the systems that helped Apollo space capsules float upright after splashdown at sea. It represents an Apollo command module, the control center for astronauts who traveled to the moon and the only portion of the Apollo spacecraft that returned to Earth, glowing red as it entered the atmosphere like a meteor. From 1963 through late 1970, astronauts scheduled for Apollo missions to the moon trained at Meteor Crater because of its similarity to craters on the lunar surface. Under the guidance of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker and Dr. David Roddy of the Branch of Astrology of the United States Geological Survey, the astronauts learned to move through a cratered environment and collect rocks ejected from a crater to provide clues to the moon’s underground composition. Among the first students in the NASA astronaut training program at Meteor Crater were Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Charles Conrad, James Lovell, Thomas Stafford, and James McDivitt. Training there also led to a safer space suit after one of the astronaut trainers ripped his suit on a rock in the crater, an accident that would have released oxygen and caused death on the moon, prompting a redesign with thicker material to resist tears. More recently, a suit designed for missions to Mars was tested at Meteor Crater.
