There's a hole out west that just might be big enough to hold
2,000,000 astronauts, but only a few of them had to take it on before
they took off.  What and where is it and what does it have to fo with
thise few?

Dear ephee,

The hole in question is a crater in Nevada named Schooner, which was
used in a training exercise by Apollo 14 astronauts in 1970. Schooner
crater is located in a nuclear testing site called Area 19. It was
chosen for the exercise because it resembles the kind of terrain that
astronauts would encounter on the moon.

"Astronauts for Apollo 14 exercised at Schooner crater, and visited
Sedan crater in November 1970."

Shundahai Network: Area 19
http://www.shundahai.org/area_19_nts.htm

"The landscape is so moonlike that one crater, the Schooner Crater,
was actually used to train Apollo astronauts for moon walks."

National Geographic News: Archaeologists Explore Cold War Nuclear Test Site
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0708_020710_TVnucleararchae.html

If you feel that my answer is incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please
post a clarification request so that I have a chance to meet your needs
before you assign a rating.

Regards,

leapinglizard


Search Queries:

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astronauts schooner crater
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astronauts schooner
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Request for Answer Clarification by ephee-ga on 08 Sep 2004 17:11 PDT

I think both answers are or could be correct.  The problem is it come
upon the same info over and over again.  Neither of the answers
decribe anthing about size of the craters.  The answer has something
to do about the size.  Since it says "Could hold up to 2,000,000
astronauts".....

---

Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 08 Sep 2004 17:40 PDT

I'd like to find more evidence in favor of Schooner crater, or
alternatively to replace it with a better answer. I believe it's
already a good fit for the riddle, but I agree with you that there's
no obvious connection with the 2,000,000 figure cited.

I thought it might mean that the area of the crater is 2 square
kilometers (2,000,000 square meters), except that Schooner is 150
meters across, or 70,686 square meters.

http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/education/crater/teacher_ref.html

Let me think about it further and look around some more. In the
meantime, can you give me some idea of the context of this riddle?
Where did you find it? What leads you to believe that Schooner is not
the correct answer? And what do you mean by "it come upon the same
info over and over again"?

leapinglizard

The meteor Crater might be a good one to. So do a search "meteor crater astronauts"

Field trips included excursions into the Grand Canyon to demonstrate
the development of geologic structure over time; Lowell Observatory
(Flagstaff) and Kitt Peak National Observatory (Tucson); Meteor Crater
east of Flagstaff ; and Sunset Crater cinder cone and nearby lava
flows in the Flagstaff area. This training was essential to giving
astronauts the skills and understanding to make observations about
what they would see on the lunar surface and to collect samples for
later study back on Earth.
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/About/AstroHistory/astronauts.html

this one is tricky i myself am looking to fine tune my answer... i
would have to guess that maybe in some article  it was mentioned about
the 2,000,000   don't know for sure yet  good luck  to all

I agree that both the Schooner and the Sedan crater could be correct,
but I found this document
http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/news&views/apollo.htm
that says the astronauts never actually exercised at the Sedan - only
the Schooner.

I'm not good with calculations, but if you could figure out the size
of the hole, and then figure out the size of an average astronaut,
perhaps that would give you the proof you're looking for.

And yes, I'm in the contest too! Good luck, y'all.

I have a problem with the Schooner Crater answer.  I am stuck between
Meteor Crater and also Kilbourne Hole... the provided link is of the
Apollo mission geological testings, and both are listed, just can't
find the link to the 2,000,000 part of the question, tho both of these
are somewhere close to the right size to fit this I believe...
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:Svvi7sQ45_UJ:www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/ap-geotrips.pdf+%2Bapollo+%2Bkilbourne&hl=en